Another way to do it here:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=3037114

Thanks for that Zenos. That's actually where I started on all this, modifying Firefox in this way, and it didn't work for me. I was thinking it might be the Mac and hence, posted this question. But I'll go play around with this again, because what's becoming apparent is that things are in a state of flux.

I used Zenos's userChrome.css to modify the font size to something readable. The bold lines are too bolded. Does anyone know what font and font size were used before?

R

Thunderbird was working fine until I restarted my Mac after the latest ISO 10.13.2n update and now the font size is so small. Is there a simple step by step guide I can follow to fix this?

I know of three approaches. But only you can decide which of these feels "simple".

• Download and install a modified Theme Font & Size Changer add-on. This may fall foul of signing issues in MacOs.
• Adjust the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx setting in the Config Editor. This may have unexpected side effects.
• Create and use a userChrome.css file. Allows the easy setting of a universal font and size, but lacks the simplicity of the add-on for colours and styling effects.

There are links to all of these in this thread.

Thanks for your reply Zenos. I have already tried to download the modified version but it won't let me 'not available on your platform'. I don't fancy the 2nd option as I'm worried about the side effects but I will give creating the Chrome file a whirl. Thanks as I was feeling a little lost!

Some Mac users have been successful, and others have failed. I don't know if it's simply lack of familiarity with the procedure for downloading xpi files and installing the add-on from the file, or if there are real compatibility/versioning issues.

The version by David Ross looked to me like the best shot, as he has taken care to address some of the details.

The chrome file isn't hard to do, but I appreciate that writing text files and creating folders in the profile is outside many users' comfort zones.

Thanks for your reply. I haven't looked at the profile for ages and now I look I can see it is straight forward. I'm just backing up my Profile first before I try it - to be on the safe side!

I'm not familar with download xpi files but I've attached a sceenshot of the page - it won't let me know download it and don't know how to get around it.

Hello Zenos

You helped me with this about a week ago (CSS Script solution). Thanks again

There is a fourth way to go and that is to explain to Mozilla and Thunderbird that any software is only as good as its weakest point, that a simple problem with font size can make the programs unusable, that they should not rely on add-ons to provide basic and very necessary features, that we are all sick of add-ons crashing second week often due to a version update (perhaps not on this occasion), that we are not all able to integrate complicated solutions nor have the time. Otherwise, no good will come of all this and more people will start looking for an alternative to Mozilla and TB rather than singing their praises.

Regards

And yet many users have no problems and don't need the add-on. What gives?

georgee said

Thanks for your reply. I haven't looked at the profile for ages and now I look I can see it is straight forward. I'm just backing up my Profile first before I try it - to be on the safe side! I'm not familar with download xpi files but I've attached a sceenshot of the page - it won't let me know download it and don't know how to get around it.

The official add-on is broken. That's why various folk, including me, have applied the recommended edits and made the result available.

And that particular page is unhelpful as it assumes you are downloading into Firefox despite "Thunderbird" being mentioned.

Firefox has broken away into a new system of add-ons and so if an author wants to provide an add-on for both Thunderbird and Firefox, he has to maintain two different versions. So a page that offers a Thunderbird add-on in the context of Firefox is likely to cause grief.

Here is a link to two modified version of the add-on:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1198517#answer-1061078

…and here is guidance on installing add-ons:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-addon-thunderbird

Thanks Zenos, I download that files and installed it successfully but unfortunately there's be no change to the text size. WIll try thr Chrome file next. Fingers crossed that will work or I'll need to wear better specs!

Sorry, another question from this newbie.... what file format do I need to save the 'userChrome.css' file as?

Zenos said

And yet many users have no problems and don't need the add-on. What gives?

Hello Well, as you know, screen estate and display varies greatly according to screen size and resolution and even other settings like Windows display settings. I could have tried to resolve the problem this way but it has a terrible knock-on effect on other programs. With all my respect, I think that if an add -on has 75,000 users and you get a reaction like this when that add-on fails, there must be a problem

Also, age and eyesight need to be taken into account as I could probably have managed much better 15 years ago with the default size 9 font.

I'm not bitching again, just trying to answer your genuine question in a helpful way.

Regards

SafeTex

Yes, I agree with SafeTex. The issue for me is screen resolution. I'm working with graphic design and need the 2560x1440 resolution my monitors provide, but this makes the menu bar, etc. in both Mozilla programs totally unreadable. At 2048x1152, I can manage to read them, made easier by selecting yellow print against a dark background, but after several hours at the computer, not so much. I'm in that 'older eyes' category, and they just plain get tired. And this would be totally inaccessible for someone with visual impairment. I'm good with using add-ons if a font adjuster can't be built into the programs for some reason, but it seems a little unfair to lose them at every upgrade.

And if that's 9pt - I know it says it is in the guts of the thing - but if that is 9pt at 2560x1440, heaven help me. It looks more like 6.

Zenos, Many thanks for taking the time to walk me through the steps. I managed to save the Chrome file in profile, went back to Thunderbird and opended "Theme Font &..." and it's there and allowing me to change it - phew!

Just got to find the right font now, does anyone know what the original font was - I'm stuggling to find one that works well?

Also, there's a warning for Mac OS X users (photo attached) but the link to 'more info' isn't active. I'm using Sierra so hoping there won't be any issues?!!

I'm a little concerned so I'm going to have to look at other options. I'm glad it's fixed for now but it's taken me too long to sort out and despite how much I like using Thunderbird (and how long I've been using it), sadly it's making me lose confidence in it.

You need to save the data as plain text.

You need to download and use the TextWrangler or BBedit app. for macOS 10.12 or earlier

 https://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/updates.html

bbedit requires mac OS 10.11 or later.

 https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/download.html

At sometime in the dim dark past, textEdit had a plain text option. Thanks apple for removing plain text document format from TextEdit.

Robert

rccharlesII said

You need to save the data as plain text. You need to download and use the TextWrangler or BBedit app. for macOS 10.12 or earlier https://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/updates.html bbedit requires mac OS 10.11 or later. https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/download.html At sometime in the dim dark past, textEdit had a plain text option. Thanks apple for removing plain text document format from TextEdit. Robert

OSX TextEdit will SAVE as rtf, but then you immediately SAVE AS and choose the option for txt. Also I'm still using ver 1.6 since you can create a persistant ZOOM level - the "improved" it by deleting that function, which makes it useless for me; and I save just about everything with TextEdit. I use it constantly.

For looking for a cut and paste approach to adding the userChrome.css file I wrote up the commands you need.

Stop Thunderbird.

Startup terminal. /Applications/Utilities/Terminal

In your favorite web browser goto:

 https://pastebin.com/raw/xm5wrAve

command + a command + c copy all these lines to the terminal. command + v press return to run the last command.

restart Thunderbird.

fyi: I was able to copy the pastebin copy buffer to TextEdit and copy it out. This is a subtle difference. Command + c out of TextEdit works because terminal filters out the junk.

It Worked! (editing the .css file) Thanks a million, Zenos.