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Reviews For Calendar Magic version 16.8
Average Rating: 3.6 Based On 5 Reviews


Date: December 07, 2007, 4:29:18pm


user: Michael Feir
computer: Windows XP laptop
operating system: Windows XP Home
screen reader: Jaws for Windows
rating: 4
comments: It is easy for blind people to become very discouraged mining the Internet for free software which is accessible enough to be useful. Much of it is too visually based to be operable at all. However, persistence can pay off wonderfully at times. Calendar Magic from Eurosoft is a clear case in point of why we shouldn't give up searching. Its author was completely unaware that his software could be used at all by blind people. He's open to any suggestions for changes which might improve accessibility.
Calendar Magic is a free personal calendar package which is packed with many additional functions. It will generate a wide variety of calendars, allow you to set reminders, perform all sorts of calculations, and more. I have yet to explore all of its features fully. Therefore, I can't claim that absolutely everything will be accessible. However, the author has used standard Windows elements to display and access features. Standard pulldown menus let you activate things and information is displayed in edit fields. I've used the basic calendar and reminder features with both Jaws For Windows version 7.10 as well as Thunder without any difficulty at all.

One thing to be aware of is that when you change the selection in a combo box, you then have to tab or shift-tab to get back to that combo box if that's necessary. For instance, you use a combo box to change the month displayed in the month calendar. Each time you change to a different month, you lose focus on the combo box presumably because the screen refreshes instantly with new data. There is no OK or Apply button. When you're through with using a feature, tab until you come to the "main screen" or "previous screen" button.

The extra features are pretty much bound to include something of particular use to everyone. The "this is your life" feature displays how many days you've lived, your biorhythm forecast over the next while, which Chinese year you were born in, and many more items of interest based on your date of birth. Other features under the "dates" submenu deal with figuring out relationships between days, observed holidays and the like, and many more options. Under the "utilities" submenu, you'll find a wide range of specialised calculators including everything from fuel consumption to pregnancy to blood alcohol content.

When new information appears in edit fields, it isn't announced so you'll have to remember to use your arrow keys to examine it. Using Jaws for Windows, I was quickly able to use the month calendar to determine that Christmas is going to fall on a Tuesday this year. Looking ahead using the year calendar for 2008, a moment's careful navigating revealed to me that Valentine's day for 2008 is going to be on a Thursday. There are doubtless ways to improve accessibility to make things even easier for computer users less experienced than myself. I leave it to those more expert in such matters than I am to make those suggestions. To pick up a copy of Calendar Magic, go to:
http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/
There, you can read all about it, contact the author, and check out other offerings on the site. Due mainly to the combo box issue and to a lesser extent occasions where information isn't automatically announced, I gave this software a rating of four out of five. However, I sincerely doubt you'll find anything better that you don't have to pay for. I had two instantaneous reactions when I discovered just how useful and accessible Calendar Magic was. Mostly, I was absolutely awestruck at my good fortune. However, there was that "if only I had found it years ago when I was in university!" agony. I've never liked the Outlook calendar and would have greatly benefited from such a full-featured free alternative for personal use. I hope this review lets others share in my good fortune and the developer's generous efforts on behalf of people the world over. He has certainly earned my thanks.

Date: December 07, 2007, 4:30:16pm


user: Michael Feir
computer: Windows XP laptop
operating system: Windows XP Home
screen reader: Jaws for Windows
rating: 5
comments: It is easy for blind people to become very discouraged mining the Internet for free software which is accessible enough to be useful. Much of it is too visually based to be operable at all. However, persistence can pay off wonderfully at times. Calendar Magic from Eurosoft is a clear case in point of why we shouldn't give up searching. Its author was completely unaware that his software could be used at all by blind people. He's open to any suggestions for changes which might improve accessibility.
Calendar Magic is a free personal calendar package which is packed with many additional functions. It will generate a wide variety of calendars, allow you to set reminders, perform all sorts of calculations, and more. I have yet to explore all of its features fully. Therefore, I can't claim that absolutely everything will be accessible. However, the author has used standard Windows elements to display and access features. Standard pulldown menus let you activate things and information is displayed in edit fields. I've used the basic calendar and reminder features with both Jaws For Windows version 7.10 as well as Thunder without any difficulty at all.

One thing to be aware of is that when you change the selection in a combo box, you then have to tab or shift-tab to get back to that combo box if that's necessary. For instance, you use a combo box to change the month displayed in the month calendar. Each time you change to a different month, you lose focus on the combo box presumably because the screen refreshes instantly with new data. There is no OK or Apply button. When you're through with using a feature, tab until you come to the "main screen" or "previous screen" button.

The extra features are pretty much bound to include something of particular use to everyone. The "this is your life" feature displays how many days you've lived, your biorhythm forecast over the next while, which Chinese year you were born in, and many more items of interest based on your date of birth. Other features under the "dates" submenu deal with figuring out relationships between days, observed holidays and the like, and many more options. Under the "utilities" submenu, you'll find a wide range of specialised calculators including everything from fuel consumption to pregnancy to blood alcohol content.

When new information appears in edit fields, it isn't announced so you'll have to remember to use your arrow keys to examine it. Using Jaws for Windows, I was quickly able to use the month calendar to determine that Christmas is going to fall on a Tuesday this year. Looking ahead using the year calendar for 2008, a moment's careful navigating revealed to me that Valentine's day for 2008 is going to be on a Thursday. There are doubtless ways to improve accessibility to make things even easier for computer users less experienced than myself. I leave it to those more expert in such matters than I am to make those suggestions. To pick up a copy of Calendar Magic, go to:
http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/
There, you can read all about it, contact the author, and check out other offerings on the site. Due mainly to the combo box issue and to a lesser extent occasions where information isn't automatically announced, I gave this software a rating of four out of five. However, I sincerely doubt you'll find anything better that you don't have to pay for. I had two instantaneous reactions when I discovered just how useful and accessible Calendar Magic was. Mostly, I was absolutely awestruck at my good fortune. However, there was that "if only I had found it years ago when I was in university!" agony. I've never liked the Outlook calendar and would have greatly benefited from such a full-featured free alternative for personal use. I hope this review lets others share in my good fortune and the developer's generous efforts on behalf of people the world over. He has certainly earned my thanks.

Date: December 07, 2007, 7:26:05pm


user: marrie
computer: hp pivillion laptop
operating system: windows xpsp2
screen reader: jaws 7.0
rating: 4
comments: I just played with it a bit and it seems pretty accessible. I do recommend this program highly.

Date: March 12, 2010, 7:43:29pm


user: shupia00
computer: Windows XP PC
operating system: Windows XP Home
screen reader: Jaws 11.0
rating: 2
comments: I don't know if it's just me, but I found Calendar Magic very difficult to figure out. It didn't have a good help file, and I got discouraged very quickly. When trying to do some features, the edit forms were unlabelled, simply saying "Edit" and nothing else. Didn't really like this product. There are definitely better ones out there.

Date: March 13, 2010, 5:27:30am


user: pitermach
computer: acer aspire 7520g, AMD Athelon 2 ghz processor, 2 gigs ram, 300gig hdd.
operating system: win XP pro sp3
screen reader: window-eyes 7.11 as primary, jaws 10 and hal 10 and nvda on occasion
rating: 3
comments: Well, I do kind of agree that this could have been made easier to work with and for my life I still can't get the hang of setting the reminders or alarms. it does have a lot of nice useful tools though, but I find my self using my pac mate and the kurzweil calendar for appointment and reminder purpuses.




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