Want to set a default zoom level for safari? Here's how you do it.

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Level 1

11 points

Want to set a default zoom level for safari? Here's how you do it.

If you like to set a default zoom level for safari so you don't have to hit Ctrl+ (or Ctrl-) every time you start Safari and open a new tab, here's how you can do that. This should work on Safari for mac, too:

1) create a file named defaultzoom.css (or any name you like, just make sure it has a css extension.)

2) copy and paste in the following:

body {
zoom: 130%;
}

change 130 to whatever number suits you. >100 means zoom in, <100 means zoom out. Don't forget the % percent sign!

3) in safari, go to Preferences > Advanced. Under style sheet, select Other... and point to the file you created.

4) you may need to restart safari for the change to take effect.

Voila. Hope that helps someone.

Windows Vista

Posted on Aug 13, 2009 11:18 AM

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Answer 1

phased

Level 1

8 points

Aug 20, 2009 3:47 AM in response to dearlt

hi there,

i'm having trouble implementing your css. this is my first time creating css. i'm on mac os.
i used textedit to create a .txt file, then altered to an .css via 'get info' in finder (no option to save directly as .css in textedit).
i have closed and reopened safari to no result.

can anyone shed some light on the matter? as a new mac user i'm really enjoying safari but it's killing me not being able to set the default zoom to 120%.

in textedit, i have literally copied:

body {
zoom: 120%;
}

that's correct, right?

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Answer 2

dearlt Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 20, 2009 7:46 AM in response to phased

did you remember to tell safari to use your css? (see my original post)

could be that this trick does not work on mac. however, the other person who replied seems to be using a mac and got it to work.

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Answer 3

Drusus

Level 1

90 points

Aug 20, 2009 6:50 PM in response to dearlt

Works brilliantly here on my MacBook Pro.

I needed this becaus for some odd reason, since i updated to safari 4.0.3, Ctrl+ has ceased to work within Safari, but works just fine in other programs. But I can still zoom out in safari using Ctrl-

Crazy eh?

Also, I found using Textedit on my Mac, I could just ask it to save as defaultzoom.css by just adding the css extension in place of the txt that comes up. It does warn you that its an unusual extension, but does allow you to proceed if you want.

Thanks again 🙂

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Answer 4

phased

Level 1

8 points

Aug 21, 2009 12:39 AM in response to Drusus

"Also, I found using Textedit on my Mac, I could just ask it to save as defaultzoom.css by just adding the css extension in place of the txt that comes up. It does warn you that its an unusual extension, but does allow you to proceed if you want."

Brilliant. When I did this, it worked.

Thanks, so much. Was very hesitant to move away from Safari but being unable to set the default zoom meant I almost had to. Thanks, once more.

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Answer 5

Mayo247

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2009 7:15 AM in response to dearlt

Thanks dearlt for you post, and thanks for a perfect subject. I was able to find your post in two clicks and implenetent your solution with ease. I have been clicking Ctrl + on every page I been opening for a year and just knew others had issues with this.

Thanks again.

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Answer 6

gabvoie

Level 1

0 points

Aug 30, 2009 10:23 AM in response to Mayo247

Very useful mod but I can't seem to get it to work. When trying to use Drusus tried in Textedit I get the following message:

"You cannot save this document with extension “.css” at the end of the name. The required extension is “.rtf”."

It gives me the option to use both css and rtf extensions, cancel or use .rtg

Following the initial instructions of dearit, I am unable to get this to work.

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Answer 7

Drusus

Level 1

90 points

Aug 30, 2009 10:28 PM in response to gabvoie

I'm guessing that you probably have Textedit set as a Rich Text format as your default setting. Your document must be in Plain Text format.

Wen you have the document open that you wish to save as css extension, go to got to the menu named "Format" you will see the option to "Make Plain Text" then give the document the appropriate name and add .css (that's dot css).

A Warning will come up stating that txt is the standard extension, but you will be given the option of txt or css

That's all their is to it.

Hope that sorts you out. 🙂

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Answer 8

Sep 3, 2009 1:29 AM in response to dearlt

Very good tip, but it seems to have some problems.
I was just trying it and i found that in Gmail you have to use horizontal scrolling to see the logout link, because the page layout does not adjust to the screen size. On the other hand, if you start with a 0 zoom level and then you use Ctrl+, the behavior is correct.
Could you confirm if the problem is general or limited to my config/computer?

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Answer 9

dearlt Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 3, 2009 9:17 AM in response to oscarguit

Yes you are right!

This CSS zooming is a crude hack. I think it basically treats a web page like a pdf document where you just enlarges everything.

When you zoom manually, safari does a smarter sort of zoom where it enlarges but tries to keep widths of the elements the same size, reflowing text where needed and scrolling only when necessary.

If the web page has a fixed size that is smaller than your browser window, like this forum, css zoom works ok. But with a page like gmail, which has no width constraint, you get into trouble.

Hmm, wait, I just checked out wiki, which also uses up all available screen real estate, but does NOT have this problem.

Notice in gmail, even if you zoom way out below what should be 100%, the login is still off the screen. The font gets real small but the width of the page stays the same. The css zoom basically "sticks" and isn't completely reversible.

Bottom line: you have to decide which is more annoying: having to hit Ctrl+ for every tab you open, or running into some problematic pages.

On Windows, I use autohotkey (a kdb and mouse macro scripting program) to switch off the CSS on the fly when I need to. I think Mac has similar capability built in, right? If I were really clever, I guess I could program autohotkey to send a few ctrl+ whenever it detects a new window or tab in safari, but I'm not there yet.

Bottom bottom line: Apple needs to add this feature. It's a pretty basic accessibility feature. Doesn't Apple have like an accessibility guru/advocate?

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Answer 10

Sep 22, 2009 6:11 PM in response to dearlt

I did all of the above -

Made file with textedit (copy paste)
Changed the ending to .css
in Safari-preferenes-Advanced-SheetStyles-defaultzoom(the file I created and saved to My documents)

Nothing happens !
I even changed one time to 200% just to see - nothing happens.

Please Help

I have been crawling on my knees for months in the Defaultless Zoom Safai desert :C

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Answer 11

Sep 22, 2009 6:37 PM in response to fjsdofnsjgv

PROBLEM SOLVED !! UnFu%#ing Believable

It was due to the rich text font in text edit.

It MUST be copied from here into Textedit which is already in Plain Text format.
(TextEdit-preferences-plaintext)

You have created a miracle - Finally Safari has this Normal option

Thank you Thank you Thank you

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Answer 12

Oct 27, 2009 9:35 PM in response to dearlt

Gmail isn't so bad, but this seems to cause major issues with Google Maps (outlined roads don't overlay on the actual roads). Even if you use the manual zoom functions to try and bring it back, they don't match up. Any other suggestions for getting a default zoom set? Are there any options for setting default zooms for specific sites?

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Answer 13

dearlt Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 29, 2009 1:04 PM in response to jjporter1979

Yes you and others have found out, the zoom set this way is not reversible with ctrl+- (manual unzoom). What I've done is to use autohotkey, a windows scripting program, to toggle on and off the CSS with a couple of keyboard shortcut. You can do something similar on the Mac, I'm sure.

Once you have the setup as I describe in the original post, set up a little script to open the preferences dialog, switch to advanced tab, click on the style sheet drop down, and click on either the css or "none selected". Simple, right?

Yeah I know. It's ridiculous. Apple could make it so easy by just adding a simple preference.

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Answer 14

tlou37

Level 1

10 points

Aug 14, 2009 11:26 PM in response to dearlt

Thank you!!!! The new zoom in Safari 4 is excellent now that it retains the page formatting but have had no luck finding a way to set the default zoom until now. Great little tip. Thanks again.

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Answer 15

gabvoie

Level 1

0 points

Aug 31, 2009 4:30 PM in response to Drusus

Awesome!

It now works. Thanks for your help.

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