Mail - OSX Lion - Can't change font in mail list

I am also getting the same issue. I have installed Lion on an older imac 24" and a macbook air. None of them have this issue where the message list view on Mail the "from email address" is cut off at the bottom.

Any one have suggestions. I've even moved the mail preferences out and tried it. I don't want to reinstall the Lion again, wondering if this bug is only specific to imac 27" users.

Switched back to OSX Snow Leopard...

Hi guys,

I have resolved my problem. I've put a picture few posts higher with my issue. But in my case the outcome was that is not Lions fault or hardware fault byt clearly it was my fault. The reason stood behind Tinker Tool.

I installed Tinker Tool hoping that I can change font size everywhere in my system. It didn't work like it should so I decided to uninstall it. Since then I had that problem. I have realized that much later. So if you have been using Tinker Tool to do some changes here is what to do...

Before you uninstall Tinker Tool you have to open it and RESET all the settings to the default ones. After that you can uninstall this software and it should be all right.

That help me. But anyway I think it might be also any other sofware similar to Tnker Tool, which could cause that.

Hope my post was some help...
Regards

New messages also don't really stand out at all. Instead of new messages being bold, they're identical to read messages, with just that little blue dot to mark them. New messages in Lucida Grande really stand out in bold -- that font seems crafted specifically for monitor display and comes out very crisp and readable, particularly at standard point sizes. The Helvetica just looks muddy and is too small.

Unfortunately, this didn't get fixed in 10.7.2 -- let's hope it makes the cut for 10.7.3, or that someone figures out how to hack into Mail and fix what fonts are used.

Siamless,

I am considering doing the same - not so much because of mail but a compound of little issues that are making Lion's adoption challenging.

Was it difficult to do (i.e. start fresh) or could you migrate your user back to snow leopard with a Lion backup?

Thanks,

I am having the same issues i want to use mac mail but this really *****. Apple get your crap together!

Wow, thought I was the only one. Just fired up new 17" MacBook. Love Apple Mail software until this....

Like everyone else, tried everything. Classic view is a relic; no way.

Help. I will have to buy binoculars.

Mail and Safari are my two most-used applications. And of the two, Mail is the personal one. My wife and I are Apple fans (MacBook, two Imacs, iPad and iPad2, iPhone 4s). The company brings pride to Americans.

That said, I can't fathom how Apple let this ugly Lion mail program get out the door. Cannot believe Steve Jobs had a look at it.

The ugly factor (for me) is the same on the new format and the 'Classic' format--it's the toolbar presentation up at the top, and the Mailbox fonts on the far left. The toolbar presentation has lost the color shadings and cartouches of Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard; the mailbox fonts have lost the scalability we've had at least since Tiger. The aesthetics and usefulness have actually gone significantly backward from Tiger, for heaven's sake. There is a functional issue as well with the 'new' format, which is the tiny and non-adjustable fonts of the mail list.

The sidebar icon size adjustment (small, medium, large), accessed through System Preferences>General, does not fix the ugly on the left side--it just takes the insanely tiny stick-figure font, brings it up to merely teeny tiny, spreads it out into more space, which makes it look a little more stick-figurish. Like something you'd see in a PC 15 years ago.

This Lion mail app just comes across as incompetent. Maybe time was running out and the project manager said 'put something in there so it will work, because we need to get iCloud implemented and on the street'.

It makes Apple look bad. They need an aesthetic guy and a detail guy there with some clout, now that Mr. Jobs is gone. All Apple needs to do is (1) make the toolbar cartouches and color shadings look like Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, and (2) return to the MailBox and Mail List font scalability and look that was also present in 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6.

Please.

"Switched back to OSX Snow Leopard..."

Thanks for sharing. You could just forward your mail through Google Mail until Apple fixes the issue you're having if Mail is that unusable for you. Gmail has a pretty clean interface and you can Command+plus until you're as zoomed in as you want to be. Also, they have free, 3rd party mail client apps you can use with Lion if you check around the web for solutions. But rolling back your OS because of a gripe with a built-in mail cleint app is more retando than necessary.

I also would like to express how much I dislike being able to change the font sizes in the Mail app. I have a feeling though that Apple realizes how this sounds like trivial pickiness and may be avoiding spending development funds on redesiging a built-in mail application that can be replaced, like most stock things on products that people just "can't stand". Like upgrading your old stock AM/FM, just upgrade to a paid mail application if it's that bad. Stock is what stock is. It's generally not so custom as we'd like it to be.

I also would like to express how much I dislike being able to change the font sizes in the Mail app. I have a feeling though that Apple realizes how this sounds like trivial pickiness and may be avoiding spending development funds on redesiging a built-in mail application that can be replaced,

Apple's reputation (and price premium) is based on attention to detail to things that would otherwise pass as "trivial".

I would hope they're viewing this as what it is: an interface bug. There are preferences to set the mail list font and they're not being applied to the new version of the layout.

"Apple's reputation (and price premium) is based on attention to detail to things that would otherwise pass as 'trivial'."

I think it was around $30 for me... not too high of a "premium" for an entire operating system.

You're missing the point. It's not the cost of Lion -- it's the investment in the whole Apple experience. Hardware and software designed to work smoothly and intuitively together.

I have the misfortune of sitting in front of Windows 7 all day every day at work. Trust me, OS X is a dream by comparison -- and an oversight like an unapplied display preference stands out here much more than it would in Windows, where interface oversights and bugs abound. That's why people use Macs and iPhones -- because of the attention to detail.

"You're missing the point."

No. I'm not missing anything. Apple has invested, as firms do, in developing something they sold at a penetration price to try and scoop up more competing market share. Apple is a firm that won't admit to "viruses" but they'll say we've had a "browser vulnerability" before; they don't really say "we have bugs" either. Unfortunately, they didn't pay attention to "detail" (like you said). But also, one needs to realize how much it costs to redesign an interface. It might have something to do with some other piece of the OS they replaced when they got rid of the support for the old processors. So redesigning this new portion may be much more costly than the $30 price point is going to return for them, financially; they also just got a new CEO and I'm not sure what he wants to do with profit & loss just yet. That's all I'm saying. We're complaining about stock when just a few years back, stock was what we replaced with "custom". We're tyring to customize. That's my parallel here. Not really complaining though. Just think it's noteworthy.

I'm with octothorpe here.

To me it is quite simple: there is an option to change something in Preferences. It doesn't work. It SHOULD work. Apple have failed to fix it in two software updates. I expect better of a company which prides itself on quality products and usually has very high standards. It's very disappointing.

Apple has invested, as firms do, in developing something they sold at a penetration price to try and scoop up more competing market share.

I stopped reading after this sentence. I'm a customer, not a market analyst, and I paid more for an Apple product than for comparable hardware on a lesser OS.

I want my product to work and work correctly. End of story.