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You do not need to use Xara to make accessible activities for Clicker Paint.

You can do it in Clicker paint itself, and it’s a lot quicker. Here is brief set of instructions for making this Maths worksheet;

1. Open a new template – (Landscape is probably best)
2. Select the colour of lines and draw your picture, or use the shapes tool (outlines of course)
3. Remember that the background is still transparent at this stage. You fill the background with a light colour to protect this area when the pupil finally uses it. You can use white but it might get confusing!
4. Save the image as a .png file (this is important!)
5. Create a new document – again probably landscape format
6. Go to File > Settings > Activity Details. There is a bit of a time delay here.
7. Click ‘Choose Picture’ and load your .png file
8. Click the button next to ‘On top of painting’ and press OK
9. Save this Clicker Paint Document Document.

You have an accessible activity with the background protected. It is possible to add ‘Sticky Points’ for switch users using scanning, but I have not worked out how to do that!

Give it a try. This method is much easier than using Xara, especially if you can draw well using Clicker Paint itself!

In a small way, I have using Clicker Paint as a means of creating accessible activities in maths that would be much harder to deliver by any other means. The intended users are touch screen users. If they touch an area not intended to be filled, then it will not be filled. Clicker paint also allows you to add “hotspots” that can be scanned by switch users.

In this example, the user has to fill in all the examples of a particular shape in the same colour. It’s the sort of activity found in all early maths schemes. I created it using Xara Xtreme – this is a vector ( line based) drawing package derived from Artworks on the Acorn computer.

Here’s how I did it;

1. Create your blank page of shapes – making sure that all shapes are transparent and lines bold. It’s probably a good idea to put two invisible points in, top left and bottom right to indicated the corners)
2. Save this file as a .png file. Make sure that the Option – transparent is ticked. Under colour depth I choose – True colour + Alpha. I do not know if this matters. I think so. Make sure you choose the largest dpi resolution and a large picture size – say 1000 pixels wide.
3. Load up Clicker paint. Open a new template – probably landscape.
4. Load this file into Clicker Paint and fill in the background a very light colour.
5. Save the file as a .png again
6. Open a new template – probably Landscape
7. Go to File > Settings > Activity Details
8. Click ‘choose picture’ then load your .png file
9. Select Assistant Layer Position – ‘On top of painting’ and then click on OK
10. Now save you activity as a Clicker paint Template

Give this a try as a method of creating accessible materials for pupils using alternatives to mouse access.
I have not tried adding scanning yet.

You do not need to use Xara. It can all be done in Clicker Paint. Create your exercise in Clicker paint and go to 5)