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Spike88

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2010
662
0
My wife and I have near perfect vision - for being average adults within our mid 40s. Within our Win XP and Win 7 systems, we set their Control Panel - use "large size" fonts and both fonts and menus become larger. Thus, allowing much better "comfort reading" on their default 1600x900 scren resoutions. Within one location, we simply change its "global level" font sizes and menu sizes, and still have clear screen images. No other "fussing" is required.

Unfortunately, current version of Mac OS X does NOT have this "global level" feature. re: Change only 1 setting and both Fonts and Menus are larger size - for better comfort reading. Hopefully, future Mac OS X updates will re-introduce this Global Level feature. I hear previous versions of Mac OS had this feature.

After changing many different application font settings (within each application), Mac OS font settings and using TickerTool (for other areas), we both gave up. These different areas changed some font sizes but not all. And, it didn't change their menu sizes either. We "gave up". A few moments ago, I changed the main screen resoltion on our new iMac. Changed to less DPI sizing and many icons / menus sizes suddenly became larger. Much easier to see, and "speed read". NO. We're not blind or have bad vision. 10 PT font on a higher RES screen is comparble to the same font using 8 PT size. After a while, 8 PT font size (especially on menus - that don't allow CMD-"+" ability for font increase) is eye strain.

If you are getting tired (and eye stressed) of reading small size "text" and small size "menus", you might want to change the screen size resolution on your iMac as well. We''ll run our different screen size resotion for 7 days and will decide if this setting is better.... Sure wish future Mac OS X updates include the ability to use "gobal level" large size fonts / menus sizing - just like Win xx OS system have today. IMO, it's a waste of technology to have a high res monitor and must "turn it down" - to obtain better text / menu size reading comfort....

Note: If there's a better method of keeping screen's default hi-res setting and allowing larger size fonts / large size menus (in all areas), please advise. I'm sure the folks using more compressed DPIs on their larger 27" screen would like this "better reading comfort" ability as well...

Hope this helps others...

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As stated in my above post, Tinker Tool does NOT change fonts within many application menus. It only changes font sizes in "some" things. Not all.

If you have Win XX (XP or Win 7 box) and used their Screen - "Use Large fonts" features, you'll see how simple (and "global") their font & menu size feature is. Does Mac OS x have a similar "global setting" ability? Tinkertool doesn't cut it....

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