If you are like many people using an iPad a stylus is your preferred method of interacting with the screen. For some a stylus allows for use because of arthritis or limited use of fingers. One assistive technology feature on the iPad that is great is the zoom accessibility feature. Once turned on a user can use a three finger double tap to activate and adjust the size of the screen to suit their needs. As mentioned, those with limited hand use may have difficulty tapping the screen and this can also be problematic for older individuals new to using touchscreens. This post is a DIY solution to provide for access to the zoom feature for easy and efficient use.
Material needed:
- Three standard size styluses
- One mini size stylus
- Foam board
- Electrical tape
- Exacto Knife
- Pencil
The first step is to draw out and cut the foam board to place the styluses on. This picture can be used for a general outline. The frame should be just a little bit shorter than the length of the stylus. Actual size is not that important but the styluses need a solid frame to stay together.
The next step can be a little tricky. This is where you will put the three long styluses onto the frame. The difficult part is that they all need to be at the same height to work correctly when touching the iPad. I found standing the styluses upside down to align to be the easiest way to do this. After you have the three long styluses taped on then add the mini stylus.
That’s it, a very easy and inexpensive way to allow those with low vision, dexterity loss, or just simply those needing an easier way to manipulate the zoom feature in Apple iOS. Take a look at the video below of the iOS zoom stylus in action.