How to change font size

Question

Level 1

2 points

How to change font size

I just purchased a new 17" MBP for my Mom and Dad. The screen is crystal clear, but the words are very small. I've never changed the font size on my 15" MBP, so I'm not familiar with how to do it. I've tried changing the display settings, but the screen is near as crisp. I have searched, but haven't found the information to solve my problem. Would someone please point me in the right direction.

This is a 17" MBP on 10.6.3
Thanks in advance
Paulyman

MacBook Pro (Nov '08), Mac OS X (10.6.2), 2.53 4G

Posted on Jun 11, 2010 10:27 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

DCGOO

Level 3

769 points

Jun 11, 2010 10:45 AM in response to paulyman

Finder: View menu::Show View Options

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 11, 2010 10:56 AM in response to paulyman

Yes you can *Finder > View > Show View Options*. This will not change the menu font sizes however. If you have the Developer tools installed you can *Quartz Debug -> Tools -> Show User Interface Resolution* . You can read more here, it is not a perfect work a round however: http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/qa/qa2001/qa1236.html

You cannot change the system wide font size. You can change the resolution (System Preferences.) Also the universal access (System Preferences) has some options. This can be a problem with these high resolution screens. Good luck.

Reply

Answer 3

paulyman Author

Level 1

2 points

Jun 12, 2010 8:33 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks for those who made suggestions, I'm at least going in the right direction. Anymore suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
Paul

Reply

Answer 4

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Jun 12, 2010 12:42 PM in response to paulyman

I second the suggestion to just change the overall resolution in Displays Preferences. Even though it is most ideal to run an LCD screen at it's native resolution, in cases like this where dealing with an older segment of the population, the increase in size of text and other graphical elements will be appreciated, whereas the reduction in clarity from not using the screen at its native format may not be greatly noticed. It can be a good trade-off for those with older eyeballs.

Reply

Answer 5

paulyman Author

Level 1

2 points

Jun 13, 2010 10:24 AM in response to BSteely

Thanks again everyone; so far I've been able to enlarge the font most everywhere, but the area that I'm not having any luck, is in the following; tool bars, menus, etc., so basically everything that is at the top of an application, such as Safari, etc. Changing the resolution helps, but I'm kind of at the point where the screen is starting to get a bit blurry. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Reply

Answer 6

Jun 13, 2010 11:16 AM in response to paulyman

Try TinkerTool...it can't perfectly solve the problem, but at least it does make something looks better and little bit bigger. Use it to edit the font style, choose bold and larger font size (even though I believe the font size doesn't work in some of them), but use bold style will make the fonts look better. Hope this can help.

Reply