Visual Comfort
Screen overlays, text customisation, and display settings for eye comfort.
What’s in This Section
Visual Comfort helps reduce eye strain and make screens more comfortable to view. Adjust colours, contrast, fonts, and motion to match your visual preferences.
Features: Screen Color Overlay, Text Customisation, Reduced Motion, Auto-play Blocking
Screen Color Overlay
What It Does
Applies a transparent colour layer over the entire screen. Helps with visual processing, reduces glare, and can make reading easier.
How to Enable
- Click the AssisT icon
- Open the Seeing group
- Toggle Screen Color Overlay ON
- Choose a colour
Or press Alt+Shift+O to toggle.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Alt+Shift+O | Toggle Screen Overlay |
Overlay Options
| Colour | Helps With |
|---|---|
| Warm Sepia | Reduces glare. The recommended starting point |
| Soft Yellow | Popular for dyslexia |
| Peach | Warm tint, gentler than yellow |
| Cream | Paper-like, low contrast shift |
| Cool Blue | Can improve focus for some readers |
| Soft Green | General eye comfort |
| Light Pink | Scotopic sensitivity, Irlen syndrome |
| Lavender | Another cool option for glare |
Settings
- Overlay Color - one of the eight above, Warm Sepia by default
- Overlay Intensity - how strong the tint is, 10% to 90%, 30% by default
Tips
- Start at a low intensity (20-30%) and increase only if it helps
- Warm Sepia and Soft Yellow are the two most commonly helpful for reading
- The overlay works inside Google Docs and Google Sheets from version 1.0.0 onwards
- A warm tint at a low intensity is a reasonable stand-in for a blue-light filter late in the evening
Text Customisation
What It Does
Changes how text appears across all websites. Adjust the font and the spacing between lines, letters, words and paragraphs for comfortable reading.
How to Enable
- Click the AssisT icon
- Open the Seeing group
- Toggle Text Customization ON
Available Fonts
| Font | Best For |
|---|---|
| System default | Uses the website’s own font |
| Lexend | Designed for reading fluency, clean and open |
| OpenDyslexic | Dyslexia-friendly, weighted bottoms |
| Comic Sans MS | Familiar, informal, easy to read |
| Arial | Clean sans-serif |
Atkinson Hyperlegible, Verdana, Andika and Comic Neue appear in the list but do not change the page font in 1.0.0.
Settings
- Font - choose from the list above
- Line Spacing - 1.0 to 3.0, 1.5 by default
- Letter Spacing - 0 to 0.5em, 0.12em by default
- Word Spacing - 0 to 0.5em, 0.16em by default
- Paragraph Spacing - 1.0 to 4.0em, 2.0em by default
- Your choices are remembered and applied on every page while Text Customization is on
Want full control? See Text Customisation Deep Dive.
Reduced Motion
What It Does
Turns off animations and transitions across websites. Reduces visual overwhelm and helps with motion sensitivity.
How to Enable
- Click the AssisT icon
- Open the Seeing group
- Toggle Reduced Motion ON
What It Affects
- CSS animations and transitions
- Smooth scrolling
Settings
- Follow System Setting - on by default. When your computer is already set to reduce motion, AssisT keeps motion reduced even with the Reduced Motion switch off.
Tips
- Some sites may animate in ways AssisT cannot stop
- Combine with Auto-play Blocking for complete stillness
Auto-play Blocking
What It Does
Blocks auto-playing videos and audio across websites. Prevents unexpected sounds and visual distractions.
How to Enable
- Click the AssisT icon
- Open the Focus group
- Toggle Auto-play Blocking ON
What It Blocks
- Videos set to autoplay (with or without sound)
- Audio that starts by itself
- Media added to the page later
Settings
Auto-play Blocking is a single switch with no sub-settings. Turn it on and video and audio stop starting by themselves; media you start yourself plays as normal.
For Educators & Parents
Why Visual Comfort Matters
For students with visual processing difficulties:
- Colour overlays reduce visual stress
- Text customisation improves readability For students with sensory sensitivities:
- Reduced motion prevents overwhelm
- Auto-play Blocking eliminates surprises
- Customisable appearance matches needs
For students with specific conditions:
- Colour overlays for Irlen syndrome
- OpenDyslexic font for dyslexia
Classroom Tips
- Start with colour overlay — Simple, non-disruptive, helpful for many
- Try OpenDyslexic font — Popular but not universally preferred
- Enable Reduced Motion — Helps focus during lessons
Student Preferences Vary
Important: What helps one student may not help another. Allow students to:
- Try different overlay colours
- Test different fonts
- Adjust their own settings
Privacy Note
All Visual Comfort settings work locally. No visual preferences or usage data is collected.
Learn More
- Text Customisation Deep Dive — All font and spacing options
- User Profiles — Pre-configured visual comfort profiles