Yes, I realize the pixel density on the 27" is super tight. But seriously, I got my mom set up with a 27" iMac as her first mac and her main complaint is that she can't see anything due to it's being so insanely compact and I don't blame her! The "zoom" feature in Universal Access is a joke & really has no place in real world usability. If we change the display's resolution setting, everything becomes so fuzzy and undefined that it's almost worse to use than the native resolution. I tried using TinkerTool but it only seems to adjust font sizes that really don't need to be adjusted. Why would Apple design a large 27" display that presents everything so incredibly small? Obviously, a large number of people wanting a larger display are wanting the things on the display to be larger, too! Does ANYONE have any tips to resolve this??
The article link was posted on page one of this thread so you may have read it.
Be sure to read the posts under it (about ten or so of them).
It gives insight into where Apple was headed in 2007 and why things might have changed.
It does give a lot of hope for the future.
I agree. It's so frustrating. My neck is all messed up from straining to read the tiny interfaces. I can't believe Apple has not addressed this issue. So not user-friendly. I hope they come up with a solution that we can add to our machines.
Will a customized style sheet stop my wife's iMac's text from running together? Whenever she is in Safari or Firefox, all the text runs together and is unreadable. Apple has no idea what the problem is. It is very frustrating. Any ideas? We've messed with font sizes but and screen resolutions, but nothing works.
I am pleased to see others chime-in on this. I was beginning to feel like an island. I have a 20 inch. My eyesight is bad, and there is nothing in Mac OS to assist me. My vision is blurred, and all the tools available only make it worse. Lawd Have Mercy, I can't imagine the fonts even smaller on the 27 inch. I did tinker with Windows 7 when in was in Beta and RC. I used it in BootCamp on this machine. I don't love Mac OS, and there is nothing stopping me from going back to Windows but funds. I have Snow Leopard, but went back to Leopard. I do not believe Windows has true Resolution Independence. Being able to adjust the DPI has been around for a long time. Windows 7 makes it easier to move from 100% to 125% or 150%. It isn't perfect, but it does work. At least it is there. Clear Type is nice, but not always the answer. Steve Jobs and company must have razor sharp vision. Some of us don't even come close. Speech is wonderful, but that's all. On the video side, Apple is not for me. I am going to have to return to Windows.
Subject: Resolution Independence?
From: Owen Lammers <owen@xxxx.xxx>
Date: July 5, 2010 5:59:52 PM GMT+07:00
To: sjobs@apple.com
Dear Steve,
I'm noticing an increasing number of users having problems with the inability to scale system fonts so that they can comfortably use the native resolutions on Apple desktops and notebooks.
Having seen your answers to some user questions recently I thought maybe you might be willing to share with us the status of resolution independence or some other solution that will enable users to scale system fonts to comfortably work in native resolutions.
I myself have very low vision and have accepted my constituency is not a market segment that has much purchasing power. But if you look at Apple discussion boards you will notice that these issues are being increasingly raised by your average consumer who just can't comfortably use some of Apple's offerings in their naive resolutions, and as you know, lowering the resolution decreases the sharpness of the content being displayed.
So could you tell us whether we have anything to look forward to?
And please, could you alos politely ask Apple employes not to promote the zoom features in Universal Access as a solution to these problems. On the surface they may sound like a good idea, but zooming is really not practical for 9-5 computer users.
Owen Lammers
30+-year mac user
PS. My nose spent hours, upon hours, day after day, year after year a mere 2" from those 9" 512, Plus and SE CRTs until I got a IIsi with a 21" Sigma L-View CRT that allowed me to work comfortably in 512x384 for the first time in my life. This is no longer so easy in the era of LCDs and applications requiring resolutions twice that or greater. But with your 27" iMac and longtime 30" Cinema Displays out there, the hardware is certainly there to help if some sort of fully functional resolution independence can be implemented. Currently using a 27" LCD and AppleDisplayScaleFactor as much as is feasible.
Wonderful post SabaiSabai! I agree with everything you have to say. It is very unfortunate the "industry" is not able to address the issue of changing the resolution on an LCD screen. The new 27 inch monitor coming from Apple in September claims to support resolutions other than the native one. If it really can support the 1080 and 720 resolutions, I could be interested. At $999, it should be able to do anything I ask of it. Yes, we are a very modest, yet constantly growing population of visually impaired folks. We have needs no one is willing to address. Instead, you can purchase a 10 inch Windows netbook running at 1366 X 768! I have to agree, Apple could do better. Funny how some apps simply can't be used in VoiceOver! No Firefox, don't even think it. The features in Universal Access could work better. I have my mouse pointer enlarged, and it looks like an 8-bit graphic. So yes Steve, please do better!
Have you tried this: go to System Preferences -> Displays and choose a resolution that's a bit smaller than the default resolution. You can experiment until you find one that suits you. This will make the desktop fonts larger - albeit just a tad less crisp, which I've preferred over having to squint for years.
Barbara ... In my case it is way more than a tad less crisp. Some people can "see through" the fuzziness. I am not one of those. The micro-fonts used in this forum are an example of people being able to see much better than I do. As mentioned in the post before mine, some of these tools Apple makes available, do in a pinch, but create eye fatigue when use constantly.
Sorry it didn't work for you; my current 24" iMac's native resolution is 1920 x 1200 and resulted in tiny fonts; I changed it to the lower 1600 x 1000 and it works great for me.
The next step lower for me is 1344 X 840. It is painfully out of focus. I have the first aluminum 20 inch iMac. Perhaps your screen is of better quality than mine. I have not actually seen the new 27 inch iMac. My eyesight is blurry all the time. I have (among other things) Nystagmus. Constant (involuntary) eye movement. There is no fix, and getting older just makes it worse. While my condition is quite the rarity, ask any eye doctor what Nystagmus is, and even the rookies will know. It would be nice if LCD/LED monitors could change their resolutions with the same ease as the old CRTs. Then we can close this thread!
Thanks for your replies Barbara. They may help someone other than myself.
Got my imac 27 a couple of days ago, replacing an older imac 24 inch. I like it except for this very issue, and I'm glad i'm not the only one that considers this a real problem - I've left feedback for apple just add another vote for system wide resolution independence (which i believe to be the only true solution.) Hopefully this will be in the next version of the OS, which can't come soon enough. Very ironic that this is the largest computer display i've ever had and yet it's the least legible.
