Fonts in Safari

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Fonts in Safari

Hi,

I just recently switched from PC to MAC, and having really hard time adjusting to web browsing with Safari for three reasons

1. macbook 1680x1050 HiRes 15" display makes the text too small
2. Mac font smoothing... I even had trouble with clearType on windows so I disabled that too.
3. Fonts, I am used to clean arial fonts while Safari uses Arial sometimes and something else all other times which is really rough and not as clean as Arial.

I wonder if you can provide some suggestions on how to better deal with this issue

thanks

macbook pro i5, Mac OS X (10.6.5), display port to HDMI cable by griffin

Posted on Dec 6, 2010 8:57 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,514 points

Dec 6, 2010 10:25 AM in response to moshem

You cannot override the fonts in web page code in Safari. Use Firefox instead.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Dec 6, 2010 9:17 AM in response to moshem

Font sizes are controllable in two preferences. In Appearance you can set the basic font and size. In Advanced preferences you can set a minimum size. Make it larger to avoid problems with tiny fonts other than the two you can set in Appearance prefs.

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Answer 3

moshem Author

Level 1

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Dec 6, 2010 10:19 AM in response to Kappy

setting font size has no effect in most pages since they hard coded the font family and size.. and the Arial font in the mac is different when aliased from the Windows one and I find it much harder to read, can I just get Windows style fonts ?

setting minimum font size results in distortion of the web page layout so it isn't helpful as well..

I am sure former Windows users can relate to the different fonts and Aliases and the really small sizes, do you really read large blocks of text in 1680x1050 and font size 10-12 ? or do you manually zoom in the web page when reading ? am I alone on this ?

thanks

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Answer 4

davidajr

Level 1

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Dec 7, 2010 2:25 PM in response to moshem

This may be too simple, but have you tried just hitting "Command" plus "±" while browsing to increase Safari's general display size? You can quickly tweak it with the "+" and "-" buttons anytime, on any page, when you come across one that is too big or too small for your monitor or taste.

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Answer 5

moshem Author

Level 1

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Dec 7, 2010 2:32 PM in response to davidajr

Yes I did, in fact this is the current solution I use...

I increase zoom on web pages manually when needed (most of the time)
I set windows 7 (parallels) fonts to large, windows interface is a much bigger problem than OSX

I am not sure it is possible (for me at least) to work 10-12 hours per day with fonts so small in size.. the fact that I need to do so constantly in annoying for a brand new mac..

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Answer 6

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Dec 7, 2010 2:50 PM in response to moshem

the fonts are a bit small on some of the larger screen hi-res models
you can tell safari to use a style sheet to automatically zoom every page ( a very simple example ) - which works exactly like using command + but you don't need to touch the keys.

Safari-Preferences-Advanced

body {
zoom: 120%;
}

Bookmark fonts are tougher 🙂, but the main show all bookmarks display font can be tweaked within the Safari bundle.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,514 points

Dec 7, 2010 2:55 PM in response to moshem

I am not sure it is possible (for me at least) to work 10-12 hours per day with fonts so small in size.. the fact that I need to do so constantly in annoying for a brand new mac..

But you can avoid that by just using a browser which does what you need done, like Firefox, no?

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,514 points

Dec 8, 2010 5:49 AM in response to moshem

I have firefox, what exactly it does that is different than others ?

It can substitute your fonts for those coded in the web page.

Preferences > Content > Default Fonts > Advanced

Make sure box for "Allow pages to choose own fonts" is not checked.

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Dec 6, 2010 10:42 AM in response to moshem

You might try:

Right Sizer Extension
Take Control of Safari

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Answer 10

moshem Author

Level 1

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Dec 6, 2010 10:59 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Actually I prefer Chrome, but firefox is nice too

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Answer 11

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,514 points

Dec 6, 2010 11:02 AM in response to moshem

Actually I prefer Chrome,

Does Chrome let you override coded fonts? I thought it worked just like Safari in that area….

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Answer 12

moshem Author

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Dec 6, 2010 11:10 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I dont think it does. but I really like it, specially the fact that I can login into it at any computer and get all my preferences and web history...feel right at home.

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Answer 13

moshem Author

Level 1

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Dec 7, 2010 10:21 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I have firefox, what exactly it does that is different than others ?

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