Changing font sizes

[sliceoftoast]

Hi Team,

Some of us out there have bad vision, for me central vision is poor and i am forever zooming in all the time. Is there a app out there i can use to tweak all fonts in OS X to be all the same size? This applies to apps too like Messages?

 

[casperes1996]

Some of us out there have bad vision, for me central vision is poor and i am forever zooming in all the time. Is there a app out there i can use to tweak all fonts in OS X to be all the same size? This applies to apps too like Messages?

I zoom in all the time too for bad vision. Changing font size uniformly would be problematic however. It would certainly break some apps that have certain UI expectations and so on. For the most part, apps include the ability on a per app basis. It would probably be possible to change a plist file or something to change the system's fonts to a larger default size, but as I said, it would probably create a lot of problems with a lot of apps. Another option that I recommend, is changing the scaling factor on the display (i.e. a different resolution). This will change the size of everything uniformly and have no compatibility issues.
I don't know how you zoom as of now, but there's an option for just using the scroll wheel/two finger scrolling on a trackpad, whilst holding control (or other key). Much better than the keyboard keys for zooming and feels incredibly fluid. Personally prefer it to the option of making things bigger overall/fonts bigger.

 

[sliceoftoast]

I am currently doing that too, i have looked at Zoom Text but but that i found it hard to use. Thanks for the reply too!

 

[casperes1996]

I am currently doing that too, i have looked at Zoom Text but but that i found it hard to use. Thanks for the reply too!

Oh I ****ing hate Zoom Text. I mean, sorry for the profanity, but I have quite strong feelings on this. When i started having eyesight problems, I was given a Windows laptop with Zoom Text to do schoolwork on (before I had a Mac laptop), and overtime it zoomed I got disoriented (don't know if that's Windows version only, because it uses the built in zoom mechanic which is terrible on Windows, but may be Mac too). It moved in in terribly chunky motions that felt like it re-rendered the entire screen instead of just zooming in on the image that's there. Aside from that, as you say, it's not the best UI and whatnot. It's what caused me to buy my first MacBook Pro because I just couldn't take it anymore, and I knew how much better Macs built in zooming worked/works because of my desktop. Or at that point, my old one. As it stands I've given up on zooming on Windows, and simply rely on looking at what I'm supposed to read for a lot longer than would otherwise be necessary. Luckily my time on Windows is rare and far between.

Anyway, rant over, hehe

 

[sliceoftoast]

Heh, yep i am with you on Zoom text there so i feel your rant. I wasn't to keen on it period.

 

[hfg]

I assume you have tried "Smart Zoom" under SystemPreferences/Trackpad ... simple 2Finger-double-tap expands the current frame containing the cursor to full screen width. You quickly learn where to double-tap to get the desired effect.

On MacRumors, tapping on the blue bar above each post will leave the poster's name visible, whereas tapping in the text box will expand it wider to only display the text full screen width. A repeat double-tap will restore it back to the original size.

Alternately, under "Accessibility/Zoom" there is scroll zoom which gives more precise control.

Possibly one of these is what you call "Zoom Text" and dislike?

 

[dianeoforegon]

System Preferences > Display > Scaled
Change the resolution from default to the next larger option.
Now everything will be larger.

 

[hfg]

System Preferences > Display > Scaled
Change the resolution from default to the next larger option.
Now everything will be larger.

I use that on larger high res monitors, and it works great for a fixed-size adjustment for all displays.

For a more dynamic or temporary adjustment the other methods work well as you can only change the text size as needed.

 

[casperes1996]

Possibly one of these is what you call "Zoom Text" and dislike?

No, no - Zoom Text is a their party app. It's ****. The above two things, from my impression, both the OP and I like quite a lot. It's not what he meant however, as A) The first method isn't universal and only works in apps such as Safari. 2) The second method is already used by the OP and not what he meant. He wanted all fonts in the system to just be permanently enlarged without any zooming required. I.e. menu bar and Dock all being the same size and not zooming in on the screen, but all text being larger.

As I also stated myself earlier, changing the scaling of the resolution is probably the closest thing you'll get