Adobe Reader Tip: Make Reading Easier With the Accessibility Features

As a followup to the previous entry on eye strain, I've been looking for a way to make reading documents easier.

In Adobe Reader (aka. Acrobat Reader), it is relatively simple to set up a low eye-strain environment for reading. The magic happens with the accessibility options.

To set up the accessibiliy options

1. Go to the Preferences dialog box, either with Ctrl-K or from the menu by Edit->Preferences.
2. Select Accessibility from the list on the left.
3. Enable Replace Document Colors (check-box)
   
4. Select Use High-Contrast colors from the radio-selection
5. From the High-contrast color combination select Yellow text on black.

Then, when reading a PDF document, go into full screen mode and maximise the size of the text.

1. Goto Full-screen mode, either with Ctrl-L or View->Full Screen
2. Use Fit-Visible mode, either with Ctrl-3 or View->Fit Visible

This will drastically reduce the amount of light emitted from the screen, keep the contrast high, provide large text and remove any distracting visual elements when reading. Personally, I find that this helps immensely to make reading electronic documents more comfortable.