OT: Computers for seniors

[daN baueR]

I've had very good results with the iPad. Especially for seniors that
have no computer experience. My mother for instance never was able to
click a mouse w/o moving it and missing what she need to click. It's a
very friendly device in my experience. I'll repeat that in my
experience.

Sent using a portable electronic communications device.  Please excuse
the brevity of this message and erratic spelling/typing.


On Feb 9, 2012, at 9:12 AM, Bob Rasmussen <ras at anzio.com> wrote:

> Thanks, Richard. I should have been more clear -- she can see the screen,
> and she can see text if it's not to small. She's not to the point of
> needing text-to-speech (in fact her hearing is worse than her eyesight).
>
> On Thu, 9 Feb 2012, Richard Kreiss wrote:
>
>> Bob,
>>
>> I know many will disagree with me but a windows based pc with outlook and Dragon Naturally Speaking might be a good solution.
>>
>> The latest version I'd Dragon works well with Windows opening apps and letting you dictate easily. The only problem I have had is with the word (send). Dragon treats this as a command and transmits the email.
>>
>> Dragon can also be set to read text so she would be able to hear her emails.
>>
>> I have not tested Win7 voice programs but I like Dragon. Setup is fast and easy.
>>
>> I have even used it with filePro. It does work for data entry. It is not good for programming with the Fp editor. If one uses a text editor, Dragon will take a lot of training especially with long variable names. :)
>>
>> Richard
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Feb 9, 2012, at 12:11 AM, Bob Rasmussen <ras at anzio.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi folks,
>>>
>>> I'm looking for tips on helping my 83-year-old mother with her computer
>>> needs. She's very tied into her email, but that's almost all she does.
>>> She's cognitively doing pretty well, but vision is a problem. She uses
>>> dial-up Internet to save money, but we might be flexible on that.
>>>
>>> After using a series of hand-me-down laptops (from me) with web-based
>>> email (gmail), she's talking about buying something. I would think any
>>> Windows PC with a large enough screen would suffice, for the hardware.
>>>
>>> For software, again primarily for email, the primary issue is ease of use,
>>> which I would imagine means:
>>>
>>> * Lack of visual clutter (such as ads) on the screen.
>>>
>>> * Large target areas for mouse actions, maybe for use with a touch screen.
>>>
>>> * High contrast colors, no partial transparency.
>>>
>>> * Not too many options she is unlikely to need.
>>>
>>> * Ability to view common attachments.
>>>
>>> * Minimal bandwidth requirements, for dial-up.
>>>
>>> I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions, especially if backed up by family
>>> experience.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>>>
>>> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
>>> company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>>>         voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>>>           fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>>>           web: http://www.anzio.com
>>> street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>>>                10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
>>>                Portland, OR  97223  USA
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Filepro-list mailing list
>>> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>>> Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Subscription Changes
>>> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list
>>
>>
>
> Regards,
> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>
> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
> company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>          voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>            fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>            web: http://www.anzio.com
> street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>                 10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
>                 Portland, OR  97223  USA
> _______________________________________________
> Filepro-list mailing list
> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Subscription Changes
> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list