I have a dilimma that I really could use some help with. I have an old Dell computer which my mom got back in 2005, which obviously has XP on it. Now before anyone says chuck that thing in the trash, or, put Linux on that darn thing, XP's not supported anymore, etc etc etc, realize that firstly, Linux is not really a viable option with an 80GB hard drive only, and no DVD reader drive. Yeah, I could upgrade the thing to some extent, but it's really so old, it's not worth it. I mainly therefore use this system for listenning to music with WinAmp, burning basic CD-R discs with Nero, as it does have a burner, just not a DVD reader/writer, and other basic things.
Anyway, enough rambling. Here's my question. What I've done is, I have the pc connected to the female V G A port of a high defF/V G A compatible flat pannel television. Then, I just go in on the TV and set the input to V G A. There's my monitor. This does work really well, but here's the issue. By default, the screen really really hurts my eyes. Even if I turn down the brightness on the TV as low as it can go, it's still fairly bright. Yes, I could just turn the monitor off completely, which I often actually do, but I do have a bit of low vision use, so sometimes, I like using it in combination with my screen reader, be it normally W E, or on incredibly rare occasions, JAWS, or NVDA. Again, normally, I just use W E primarily on this machine. Not V9 though, I think it's more like V 8, or there abouts. I'd have to look as it's been so long since I installed it. It's only a demo, but hey, if it works, it works. Anyway, the problem is, though I probably shouldn't admittedly due to security, I do, guilty as charged, sometimes check e-mail on this machine with Outlook Express. The thing is, if I go into the control pannel and switch the color scheme to high contrast dark on the appearance tab of themes, then go into Outlook Express, the strangest thing occurs! It looks absolutely fine over here, but when I send an outgoing message, be it a new message, a forward, or! for that mind, a reply, the background color of my messages changes to black, and the text also remains black. So basically this means you have black text on a black background, therefore making my messages read fine for screen readers, as they don't care about this factor, however for sighted people, it's impossible for them to read my messages. They come out looking blank even though in all truth, they're not. This isn't an issue of the receiving end's e-mail client. I've sent messages to people using Outlook, Outl ook Express, Eudora, Apple Mail, I O S Mail, Android Aqua Mail, Windows Live Mail, Blackberry Mail, Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, you name it.It's renderring this way regardless. Though this dark color scheme is far far more easy on my eyes, and I highly highly prefer it, If it's gonna screw up me sending outbound e-mail like this, then I can't do it and just have to either shut off the monitor, which I don't exactly prefer, or I have to just grit my teeth, squint my eyes, and grin and bare it whilst gremacing the whole way. I'd be open to exploring other options like full fledged Outlook 2003, which I do have an old copy of somewhere in a drawer. I'd have to find the CD and the key, but I know I do have it somewhere around the studio. I'd also not be in any objection to trying Thunderbird. I wasn't really the biggest fan of its interface last time I did! try it, but I'd be willing to give it another go, provided you all can promise me that this weird behavior wouldn't happ en. Chris. _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
