Terrible Eye Strain in Monterey and Ventura

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Level 1

49 points

Terrible Eye Strain in Monterey and Ventura

Hi,

I have poor eyesight, a light sensitivity, strobe sensitivity, and visual motion sensitivity. I have been using MacOS Mojave, as well as a flicker-free monitor with the brightness at 0%, contrast 0%, red 15%, green 15%, and blue 5%.

In Mojave, the default text rendering was spindly and painfully hard to read, but I was able to use Tinkertool to set old-style font smoothing and set it to strong and text wasn't so bad.

I tried installing Ventura, but the text was unreadable, and I'd get awful migraines from trying to find anything, and worse ones from the standard scrolling behavior in the new System Settings.

I wiped that partition and then installed Monterey, but the text was still exceedingly hard to read, and Tinkertool could only set default font smoothing or none.

Can anyone suggest options to enable either strong font smoothing or thicker fonts in Monterey and other recent versions of MacOS?

I can't use Dark Mode because of my eyesight, or increase contrast, because it wipes out contrast in some apps.

In theory an e-ink or rlcd monitor could also help, but full-sized ones cost $1500 and up...

Mac mini, macOS 12.6

Posted on Apr 8, 2023 3:20 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Galt

Level 10

146,402 points

Apr 8, 2023 7:40 PM in response to Marja E

It appears that you already tried to find acceptable solutions in Accessibility Preferences but none are satisfactory: Change Display settings for accessibility on Mac - Apple Support.

In Mojave, the default text rendering was spindly and painfully hard to read, ...

"Spindly" is an apt description. I do know Apple devotes a great amount of time and effort in developing system fonts, but I do not know why they seem to have settled upon default system text that may be fashionably thin but difficult to read.

Apple provides a quick, one-click solution in iOS. Selecting Bold Text applies to everything system-wide and immediately adds some bulk to its otherwise spindly text. It seems to me making that option available in macOS would be a simple and beneficial addition. Given the fact that macOS appears to draw upon considerable iOS appearance, it's curious they have not implemented it yet.

If you have the motivation to do so, tell Apple, here: Feedback - macOS - Apple. Beware the text on that page is even more spindly.

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Answer 2

Marja E Author

Level 1

49 points

Apr 8, 2023 6:45 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

I already have! But there's only so much glasses, therapy, etc. can do.

Now here on Mojave, if I use old-style font smoothing, and set it to strong, I can read system dialoues without too much eye strain. But in Monterey and Ventura I can't. And apparently the big change was in Catalina. So is there any way for me to use the newer versions of MacOS?

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Answer 3

Apr 8, 2023 3:25 PM in response to Marja E

I suggest you get recommendations from a medical professional such as an ophthalmologist or optometrist.

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Answer 4

Marja E Author

Level 1

49 points

Apr 8, 2023 3:40 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

I've lost track of how many doctors I've seen.

But the new font rendering makes reading things more painful than the old. So either I need a way to make newer versions readable, or I can't use them.

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