How can I permanently change the default type size in Ventura Mac 13.3.1

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Level 1

7 points

How can I permanently change the default type size in Ventura Mac 13.3.1

I am a 75-year-old Senior having trouble reading the small type that is on everything on my Mac running Ventura 13.3.1. I have a 23-inch Mac display. On the older Mac systems, I could easily change the default font size on everything by going to Display Preferences, but the most recent Mac operating systems have changed how the System Preferences look, to more of the way they look on my iPhone, which to me is a bit confusing.

How can I make a permanent change to all of the lettering on my Mac's screen? (I need to change the default size up to 14pt or 16pt instead of the current 12pt type.)

Thanks in advance for your help.

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Apr 19, 2023 12:26 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

210,777 points

Apr 19, 2023 3:33 PM in response to ovelky

You can't. This is what I've done:

1 - put the Mac into Dark Mode. The white text agains a black background is much easier to see and read.

2 - in the System/Display preference pane select the next scaled option next to the default one to increase text size everywhere a bit. Note: If you have a laptop it will reduce the avilable screen real estate somewhat.

3 - in the System/Accessibility/Display/Display preference pane check these checkboxes.

What this does is make the text slightly larger but much more readable. I have glaucoma and AMD so this is a must for me. I hope it's given you some ideas to try.

Oh, to be 75 again.

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Answer 2

ovelky Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 20, 2023 7:11 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks Old Toad! I love your Avitar, by the way. The previous answers did not apply to the latest Mac OS Ventura 13.3.1. Previous OS's had the larger-to-smaller text option in System Preferences>Display, but Ventura 13 does not and I think the two previous answers only applied to earlier systems.

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Answer 3

ovelky Author

Level 1

7 points

Apr 20, 2023 11:15 AM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad—I agree! Unfortunately, almost all software is designed by young people these days who really have no clue about the issues older users face. I guess we’ll have to wait about forty years for them to catch up. Of course, by then you and I will be with the angels. LOL!

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

210,777 points

Apr 20, 2023 11:48 AM in response to ovelky

ovelky wrote:

Of course, by then you and I will be with the angels. LOL!

I'm not so sure about me there. 😈

I do use a CSS file to change the size of font and type of font for websites and give different colors to the links before and after accessing:

And I use Noir from the App Store to make Safari use dark mode. There are some sites where I have to disable one or both to get working.

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Answer 5

tbirdvet

Level 6

14,633 points

Apr 19, 2023 2:30 PM in response to ovelky

In Monterey (may be similar in Ventura) Open preferences, display and pick scaled and then pick one of the larger resolutions. You make everything bigger that way. You can also use the accessibility pane in display and increase contrast which may help.

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Answer 6

dcinema

Level 1

8 points

Oct 27, 2023 12:48 PM in response to Old Toad

Looks like your CSS gives nice Safari text sizes. I'd like to try it, but I'm an old timer (used to hand-code html - once we had designed it) and I have no idea how to create, install, use a CSS in this way. Instructions, please. Thx.

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