Improve Screen Readability – Increase Text Size

One complaint that I do come across after a user has had their screen set at its native resolution is that the size of the text on the screen has shrunk and, especially for smaller displays that run at high resolutions, can still be difficult to read.

Luckily, you can increase the size of the text on screen if you are struggling to read it.

Under Windows XP, you can do the following:

  • Right click on a blank area of the desktop,
  • Click on “Properties”,
  • Click on the “Appearance” tab,
  • Under font size choose from “Normal”, “Large Fonts” or “Extra Large Fonts” to suit,
  • Click “OK”.

Under Windows Vista:

  • Right click on a blank area of the desktop,
  • Click on “Personalize”,
  • Click on “Adjust font size (DPI) on the left hand side,
  • Click on “Custom DPI”
  • Choose from one of the percentage values in the drop down menu to suit or untick the “Use Windows XP style DPI scaling” box and drag the ruler to choose a size,
  • Click “OK” then “OK” again.

Under Windows 7:

  • Right click on a blank area of the desktop,
  • Click on “Screen Resolution”,
  • Click on “Make text and other items larger or smaller”,
  • Click on “Set customer text size (DPI),
  • Choose from one of the percentage values in the drop down menu to suit or untick the “Use Windows XP style DPI scaling” box and drag the ruler to choose a size,
  • Click “OK” then “Apply”.

Unfortunately, for users of Mac OS X there is no means by which to make system wide changes to text size although such a feature has been a long time coming (since Mac OS X 10.4). If you are desperate, you can install the Mac OS X developer tools from your installation disc. Once installed you can run the Quartz Debug application and browse to the “User Interface Resolution” in the “Tools” menu where you can adjust a slider to alter the DPI settings.

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