Fixed text size causes problems for a user with low vision

In this video sequence the visual shows a screen capture of the Beijing Olympics website as the user browses. In the bottom right hand corner there is a small video image of the users head and shoulders as they look at the web page.

This user has low vision and can't read the text at the default size. He is asked to increase the text size in Internet Explorer, he is unable to do so.

J: So, how do you find this? Is this readable to you? Or…

M: It is, but as I say, some of the pictures are small.

M: I can read this for a while but I couldn’t be here on for a …

M: It’s not comfortable reading that sort of site.

J: Oh, OK.

J: So how long would you say you can possibly work with this for?

J: Before it gets a bit uncomfortable?

M: Probably about… probably about 10 or 15 minutes maybe.

J: OK. Well, in that case, because we’re gonna go for about an hour, would you prefer if you were using ZoomText?

M: Yes, it would be more comfortable, more user… more easy to read.