ZoomText 8.0 is Now Available

By Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Student Computing Services Manager

ZoomText 8.0 is now available for installation on UNT campus computers. The software is located at \\CC2\Software\ZoomText\Zoomtext8\ and is accessible to campus network managers. In order to install ZoomText 8 simply double-click setup.exe.

There is also a folder called "Documentation" which includes a handy quick reference guide to ZoomText as well as the large manual for the application in both Microsoft Word (easily readable by ZoomText, JAWS, or other screen readers) and Adobe PDF. Additionally, Student Computing Services (ISB 129) in the Computing Center has a limited number of hard copies of these manuals for distribution.

Attention Network Managers

Setup for the application is fairly straightforward. Though this version is termed an "upgrade", it is actually installed as a standalone application; it is NOT an upgrade in the sense that one just installs it to enhance an already installed earlier version. Network managers will need both the new ZoomText 8 serial number and the old ZoomText 7 serial number during installation and these numbers are included in the folder in the file called serialnos.txt.

What can you expect of ZoomText 8?

ZoomText 8 has a slightly different 'look' to it than earlier versions of ZoomText but all essential commands and navigation tools remain the same. The online tutorial for ZoomText will be updated by the end of January to reflect these cosmetic changes. In the meantime, if you are completely unfamiliar with ZoomText, go to the current tutorial: www.unt.edu/ACSGAL/zoomtext.html for a complete guide to the basics. We still have ZoomText Level 2 support so the new version includes both the magnifier and the reader software.

Initial reports from testing are quite positive. Earlier issues of application corruption and interference with ZoomText 7 and JAWS have now disappeared with the installation of both JAWS 5 and ZoomText 8. The ZoomText 8 installation is simple and straightforward and the product continues to be easy-to-use and effective.

For any further questions regarding ZoomText 8, please contact Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner.