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I would like to make the font sizes on my menu bars, tool bars, and tabs larger. How can I change those font sizes only?

  • 6 replies
  • 116 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by shungaberry

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They are just too small. Maybe size 9?

They are just too small. Maybe size 9?

All Replies (6)

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You can increase all font sizes (user interface and web pages) and use an extension to set the font sizes on web pages smaller if necessary.

Increase the String pref layout.css.devPixelsPerPx from 1.0 to 2.0 in 0.1 steps to see what works best.
In current Firefox versions this pref is a String value parsed to a float and allows to fine tune the dimensions of all elements (user interface and web pages) more precisely.
See http://kb.mozillazine.org/about%3Aconfig

If the content on websites needs to be adjusted after making changing prefs then you may need NoSquint or Default FullZoom Level.

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As a Windows XP user my usual solution would be through the OS settings, and often that would be the preferred method as other folders and the desktop would be likely to have problems with writing that is too small. Obviously Windows 7 has similar features/options for making adjustments. (see MS link)

■ Screen Resolution

  • This tends to be a quick easy solution. If the resolution is lowered, less pixels, generally that will result in text and icons getting bigger. They are probably initially set by default to show off the highest resolution possible, something that may not be ideal for all users.
  • (xp) Control Panel -> Display -> Settings this allows resolution to be set, or under advanced allows the DPI setting to be changed.

■ Accessibility Settings, these provide more extreme solutions

  • (in XP) Start -> Control Panel -> Accessibility This includes options for very large text and contrasting colours
  • a related firefox article

■ General settings and themes

  • (again in XP) Control Panel -> Display -> Appearance that gives several settings choices with an advanced option even more specific allowing font size to be chosen

@ cor-el I marked your answer as helpful, I knew about the other options mentioned but not the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx as that is specific to the firefox windows, and I can envisage times when that would be a useful to know.

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John99; Thank you, that seems to be what I was looking for.

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Good, lets hope it works when you try it.

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In the past there have been a lot of threads with problems by setting the DPI settings in Windows to get proper text sizes in Firefox. Using the pref that I mentioned above prevents such problems.

Be careful with changing the screen resolution on LCD screens as the result probably doesn't look good. LCD screens always need to used with their native screen resolution (vertical and horizontal dimensions).

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Cor-el - I posted a question 'since upgrading to 3.6.13, font in both window and toolbar is tiny. IE doesnt have this problem' and have gotten some good suggestions, one of which was a link to this thread. Your solution - about:config layout.css.devPixelsPerPx, solved my issue. The initial value I had was -1. I've increased it to 1.5. Much better for my 50 year old eyes! Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!

Modified by shungaberry