Ticket Options
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Minimum Font Size: How?
charles1 - Jun 24, 2005 - 10:28 am
Some programs like Thunderbird and Internet Explorer have insanely small fonts. Is there a way in OS X 10.2.8 to set a minimum font size or do I have to customize each and every program? I've tried Universal Access (just makes everything blurred), and I can't change the resolution on the monitor (flat panel with fixed native settings). Suggestions?
Natobasso - Jun 24, 2005 - 6:23 pm
Howdy!
You have full control over fonts within the apps themselves…
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
You have full control over fonts within the apps themselves…
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
charles1 - Jun 30, 2005 - 11:27 pm
Please let me know how to enlarge:
The font in the Address bar in Internet Explorer.
The Message List in Thunderbird (not the messages - the list above the messages.)
The font in the Navigation bar in Firefox.
The font in the Menu? bar in Mail for OS X 10.2.8. This is the bar with Delete, Reply, Reply All, etc. The letters in mine are about 1/16th of an inch tall. Its pretty silly.
There must be a setting in OS X for a minimum font size so I don't have to go through every single one of my programs.
The font in the Address bar in Internet Explorer.
The Message List in Thunderbird (not the messages - the list above the messages.)
The font in the Navigation bar in Firefox.
The font in the Menu? bar in Mail for OS X 10.2.8. This is the bar with Delete, Reply, Reply All, etc. The letters in mine are about 1/16th of an inch tall. Its pretty silly.
There must be a setting in OS X for a minimum font size so I don't have to go through every single one of my programs.
Natobasso - Jul 1, 2005 - 9:52 am
How large is your screen?
I looked around and the only text sizing you can do system-wide is for the tags under apps, files and folders.
All browsers can adjust their display font sizes, just go to Preferences/General/Fonts and Colors (at least in Firefox) to adjust.
Most apps don't have user adjustable font sizes for their menus or toolbars.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
I looked around and the only text sizing you can do system-wide is for the tags under apps, files and folders.
All browsers can adjust their display font sizes, just go to Preferences/General/Fonts and Colors (at least in Firefox) to adjust.
Most apps don't have user adjustable font sizes for their menus or toolbars.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
charles1 - Jul 1, 2005 - 1:41 pm
My screen is a LCD flat panel 17" with a fixed native resolution of 1280 x 1024.
Apps, files and folders? Where? Using OS x 10.2.8.
Oh I've been there in Preferences, etc but that doesn't solve the problem of tiny fonts for things like address bar fonts, menu fonts, etc. Yes the text is great now. But I can't adjust the other stuff. And in Thunderbird all of the message list (which is half of the screen is in a microscopic font. I've been through all its preferences to no avail. That's why i thought there must be an underlying minimum font size for OS X.
Apps, files and folders? Where? Using OS x 10.2.8.
Oh I've been there in Preferences, etc but that doesn't solve the problem of tiny fonts for things like address bar fonts, menu fonts, etc. Yes the text is great now. But I can't adjust the other stuff. And in Thunderbird all of the message list (which is half of the screen is in a microscopic font. I've been through all its preferences to no avail. That's why i thought there must be an underlying minimum font size for OS X.
Natobasso - Jul 1, 2005 - 4:06 pm
When you're on your computer's desktop (Select the finder icon in the dock or just click on an empty patch of desktop to get there). Then go to your Menu Bar at the top of your screen, View/Show View Options, and change the font size of icons you view.
This is not a system-wide change, though, because as I said before each program has it's own controls over its own menus.
If you're really having trouble reading your screen, go here to the Universal Access options: System Preferences/Universal Access/, but there aren't a lot of options here and you said you already tried that.
Every browser lets you set a minimum font size in your user Preferences. Are you not able to find those? I know it's frustrating, but you just don't have a whole lot of control over screen fonts when you're dealing with apps.
In a browser the fonts you can increase or decrease will do so when you adjust them. Those fonts that don't adjust in this case aren't user adjustable.
Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I understand your frustration.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
This is not a system-wide change, though, because as I said before each program has it's own controls over its own menus.
If you're really having trouble reading your screen, go here to the Universal Access options: System Preferences/Universal Access/, but there aren't a lot of options here and you said you already tried that.
Every browser lets you set a minimum font size in your user Preferences. Are you not able to find those? I know it's frustrating, but you just don't have a whole lot of control over screen fonts when you're dealing with apps.
In a browser the fonts you can increase or decrease will do so when you adjust them. Those fonts that don't adjust in this case aren't user adjustable.
Probably not the answer you were looking for, but I understand your frustration.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
charles1 - Jul 7, 2005 - 7:37 pm
So its impossible without going deep into OS X programming? Because there is some setting that is controlling the minimum font size. This is ridiculous. I'm running a 17" viewable 1280 x 1024 monitor and my text in the Internet Explorer address bar is 1/16th of an inch tall. That seems a little odd doesn't it?
Natobasso - Jul 7, 2005 - 7:39 pm
You can adjust the font size to whatever you want within Explorer.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
Natobasso - Jul 7, 2005 - 7:45 pm
In Internet Explorer you can increase the font size in two ways:
1. Command + "+" (or "-" to reduce)
2. File Menu/View/Text Zoom (the command + and - is in this menu as well.
let me know if this answers your question.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
1. Command + "+" (or "-" to reduce)
2. File Menu/View/Text Zoom (the command + and - is in this menu as well.
let me know if this answers your question.
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
charles1 - Jul 8, 2005 - 11:37 pm
You are not reading my queries well sir. I said the ADDRESS BAR is microscopic. I gave that as an example. Of course View, Text size changes text size, which, if you've ever used it in Insecure Explorer would know its a total waste of time as the fonts spill out and are hidden by boxes as well as the images stay the same size. Opera's text zooming is state of the art: it allows the text size to be adjustable to an unlimited degree while fitting the width on to the screen - unfortunately Opera for Mac has a lot of problems to work out yet. I never use IE - unless a financial site forces me to - its such a totally lame, unconfigurable browser - but I just thought if I could fix it in IE (which is probably a commonly used browser even in the Mac world) I could fix it in everything else. If you can pass my problem on to someone technical that would be great as it looks like I'm going to have to modify some inner settings which I have not a clue in the world about. I do thank you for your effort though. I would have posted this on to the newsgroups before but Thunderbirds message list is so tiny it makes for some very fatiqueing reading. And Opera News is always freezing on my machine.
Natobasso - Jul 9, 2005 - 3:19 am
I'll put this on the forum again, but here's a couple things before I do that:
Why not use firefox and just use the icons, then you won't NEED the text at all?
Remember that the longer your posts/questions the harder it is to read and answer them, especially when I'm doing this for free, on my spare time. I feel like I've been more than helpful, and I also think you're trying to adjust something that isn't adjustable. In firefox you can get different themes, but you still can't adjust the size of the text below the icons. Why fight it? Why do you want to see the text underneath?
So why not just stick with Opera??
Anyway, I'll put this back in the queue, and I'm sorry you didn't find my suggestions helpful.
Kind Regards,
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
Why not use firefox and just use the icons, then you won't NEED the text at all?
Remember that the longer your posts/questions the harder it is to read and answer them, especially when I'm doing this for free, on my spare time. I feel like I've been more than helpful, and I also think you're trying to adjust something that isn't adjustable. In firefox you can get different themes, but you still can't adjust the size of the text below the icons. Why fight it? Why do you want to see the text underneath?
So why not just stick with Opera??
Anyway, I'll put this back in the queue, and I'm sorry you didn't find my suggestions helpful.
Kind Regards,
--------
*Nat
Pro Bass Player
Freelance Designer
Junior IT
Qion - Jul 10, 2005 - 12:04 am
I think I've found a solution. Ever tried Tinkertool? It's an application that let's you adjust just about everything adjustable in OSX. Charles, try downloading Tinkertool here: http://www.bresink.de/Downloads/TinkerTool.dmg.gz
Then go to the "Fonts" section of the application and change the system wide, application, menu bar fonts, etc. and get back with me.
Cheers,
Logan
Then go to the "Fonts" section of the application and change the system wide, application, menu bar fonts, etc. and get back with me.
Cheers,
Logan
charles1 - Jul 10, 2005 - 10:40 am
This is a system wide problem - once I fix it in IE or Safari or whatever I've fixed it in everything. That is my goal at least. Each browser has advantages and disadvantages. I find Opera the best for my needs but for some unknown reason its freezing on me frequently (version 8.01 gets the dreaded spinning colored wheel of death) so I'm using Safari until I fix the problem in Opera. Also for some reason Firefox won't run on my computer though it was doing quite well before. I can't even load a new version on. I'll deal with that later. As for why I need to "see the text underneath" - how about seeing the text in the Address Bar? 
Doesn't that seem a trifle important? This is a problem that is widely complained about on the net. Doing a search for OS X "fonts too small" or similiar yields many, many unanswered complaints. It would appear it is part of the systemic type of arrogance of Apple whereby if "its not right you must have a problem". Microsoft is "if its not right we'll just endlessly patch it until you tired and stop complaining". I realize this is not an easy problem to address and appreciate your efforts.
Doesn't that seem a trifle important? This is a problem that is widely complained about on the net. Doing a search for OS X "fonts too small" or similiar yields many, many unanswered complaints. It would appear it is part of the systemic type of arrogance of Apple whereby if "its not right you must have a problem". Microsoft is "if its not right we'll just endlessly patch it until you tired and stop complaining". I realize this is not an easy problem to address and appreciate your efforts.
charles1 - Jul 10, 2005 - 11:45 am
another reason I'm searching for this solution: The Help viewer's letters are exactly 1/16" of an inch tall. So everytime I'm in Help its fatiguing.
IF THIS IS YOUR QUESTION AND YOU WISH TO RESPOND, LOGIN HERE FIRST.
