Adjusting your text size

This website, like all well-designed sites, uses the text size defined in your browser. This means you can set it to whatever size is most convenient for you. This is very easy in almost all browsers.

In case you do not know how to change the font size in your browser, this page gives assistance.

If you come across a site which ignores your browser settings, and as a result is awkward for you to read, I strongly recommend you complain to the owner/webmaster of the site. He or she ought to know better.

Browsers covered on this page:

If you are using another browser and do not know how to adjust your text size, please contact me. I will find out how to do it (unless the browser is very obscure) and add it to this list.

Changing text size in Internet Explorer

IE 7

IE 7 is the first version of Internet Explorer to have a size-change facility permanently on view: the button in the bottom-right corner. This can be used to zoom the whole page (text and images).

Alternatively :

  1. Select menu item Page / Zoom (I'm translating back from a Dutch version here - perhaps someone can confirm the exact English text?)
  2. Click on the desired size.

You can also adjust the zoom quickly by holding the Ctrl key down and moving the mouse wheel.

To adjust the font:

  1. Select menu item Tools / Internet Options;
  2. Select the “General” tab;
  3. Press the “Fonts” button;
  4. Select the required font;
  5. Press the “OK” button;
  6. Press the “OK” button.

IE 6

To adjust the text size (in IE 6 this however only works on some sites):

  1. Select menu item View / Text Size
  2. Click on the desired size. (The dot indicates the one currently selected.)

You can also adjust the text size quickly by holding the Ctrl key down and moving the mouse wheel. This works in the opposite direction to IE 7!

To adjust the font:

  1. Select menu item Tools / Internet Options;
  2. Select the “General” tab;
  3. Press the “Fonts” button;
  4. Select the required font;
  5. Press the “OK” button;
  6. Press the “OK” button.

Netscape and Mozilla

  1. Select menu item Edit / Preferences;
  2. Select item Appearance / Fonts;
  3. Select the fonts and size required (the one marked ‘variable width’ or ‘proportional’ is the most important one);
  4. Press the “OK” button.

In Mozilla one can also zoom the text size in and out by using Ctrl & ‘+’ and Ctrl & ‘-’.

Opera

In Opera 8 and 9:

  1. Select menu item Tools / Preferences (or press Alt-P);
  2. Select tab Web pages;
  3. Click the button next to “Normal font”;
  4. Select the font and size you like;
  5. Press the “OK” button (or the Enter key);
  6. Press the “OK” button (or Cancel, if you’ve suddenly got cold feet).

You can control fonts in more detail on the ‘Advanced’ tab.

In Opera 7 this is to be found under menu item File / Preferences, then “Fonts and Colors”, then “Normal”.

In Opera you can also rapidly zoom in and out on a page, if you have a mouse with a wheel: hold the Ctrl key depressed, and move the mouse wheel up or down. Or use the ‘+’ and ‘-’ keys on the numeric keypad, and ‘6’ to return to 100%.

In Opera you can also set a minimum text size, so if a site uses some reasonable-sized text and some tiny text, you can force the tiny text to be readable. This is set in the ‘Advanced’ panel, as above.

Firefox

Firefox (version 1.5) offers various ways of setting text size:

Safari

In Safari one can zoom the text size in and out with Command + and Command -
The Command key on a Macintosh is indicated by an Apple or cloverleaf symbol. Or you can use menu View / Make Text Bigger.

AOL Browser

The AOL Browser has a chequered history. Not being an AOL customer I don't have access to it, and other web-sites have somewhat contradictory information. However the situation appears to be as follows. If anyone has reliable information, I'd be glad to hear it.

Until about 2005 the AOL Browser was based on Netscape, but instead of an Edit / Preferences menu option it had My AOL / Preferences.

The current version is based on Internet Explorer, but apparently one cannot directly adjust the text size in the AOL Browser. One has to start up Internet Explorer itself, adjust the text size there, and then switch back to the AOL Browser. (If you think this is pretty strange, I can only agree with you. Strongly. And suggest you might like to try downloading yourself a decent browser.)