Free Software Makes Computer Mouse Easier for People with Disabilities
From: UW News (WA) - 04/07/2011
By: Catherine O'Donnell 

University of Washington researchers have developed two software-based mouse
cursors designed to make clicking targets easier for users with disabilities.
The Pointing Magnifier program combines an area cursor with visual and motor
magnification. To acquire a target, the user places a large circular cursor
somewhere over the target and clicks. The Pointing Magnifier then enlarges
everything under that circular area to fill the screen. The user then clicks
with a point cursor inside the enlarged area to acquire the target. The
program includes a control panel that enables users to adjust the color,
transparency level, magnification factor, and cursor area size. The
researchers say that testing demonstrated that Pointing Magnifier users were
able to acquire targets 23 percent faster than with conventional software.
"It's less expensive to create computer solutions for people who have
disabilities if you focus on software rather than specialized hardware, and
software is usually easier to procure than hardware," says Washington
professor Jacob O. Wobbrock. The researchers also developed Angle Mouse,
software that slows the cursor down as it approaches the target. The
researchers say that Angle Mouse improved motor-impaired pointing-performance
by 10 percent over the Windows default mouse and 11 percent over sticky icons. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/free-software-makes-computer-mouse-easier-for-people-with-disabilities

Links:
Pointing Magnifier
http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/ptgmag/

Angle Mouse
http://depts.washington.edu/aimgroup/proj/angle/

Jacob O. Wobbrock
http://faculty.washington.edu/wobbrock/

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Improved Mouse Control for Users with Disabilities
From: PCWorld - 04/16/2011
By: Mark Gibbs

The AIM Research Group at the University of Washington team has released, for
free, two mouse cursor control systems for Windows that make locating the
mouse on a target and interacting with it easier by changing the way the user
interacts with the display. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/225289/improved_mouse_control_for_users_with_disabilities.html#tk.nl_dnx_h_crawl

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Free Software Makes Computer Mouse Easier for People With Disabilities
From: Science Daily - 04/11/2011

As the population ages, more people are having trouble with motor control,
but a University of Washington team has invented two mouse cursors that make
clicking targets a whole lot easier. And neither requires additional computer
hardware - just some free, downloadable software. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110408163911.htm