Google is keeping up with its six-week update schedule for Chrome OS, and a new update is making its way to users soon. The company highlighted the changes in the latest update, and it focuses almost exclusively on accessibility features, in celebration of Disability Employment Awareness Month.
The first change is the addition of new colors for the mouse cursor, so you"re no linger stuck with the default. There are seven new colors: red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and pink, and you can choose your preferred color from the "Mouse and touchpad" section of the Settings app.
Google has also improved the select-to-speak functionality so that it darkens the text that isn"t highlighted, making it easier for users to focus on the text being read aloud. ChromeVox, the screen reader built into Chrome OS, is also getting some improvements that allow it to adapt to different languages on the fly for pages that are in two languages. There are also new speech customization options, a Smart Sticky Mode, and better navigation for the ChromeVox menus.
Other new features include the ability to export accessible PDFs from the Chrome browser, which auto-generates headings, links, tables, and so on, making it easier for screen readers to read the documents.
Outside of the accessibility features themselves, Google recently launched a new accessiblity hub website for users to learn more about the features. There"s also a guide for guardians of children with disabilities, which is meant to help parents and guardians make distance learning easier for their kids.