Is there a way to Enlarge the Menu Bar?

[Sweetfeld28]

More, and more, I seem to be getting asked from my older relatives if there is a way to increase the size of the Menu bar.

I have tried searching google for an answer, but can only find how to change the resolution, Zoom, or Magnify.

This seems to be more of an issue as Apple keeps releasing HD, now 4K, 5K displays. My uncle just returned his brand new 4K iMac because he has a hard time reading the menus. Everything else in the OS can be enlarged, but not the Menus.


Does anyone know of, or use an app that can change this?

 

[chabig]

Have them try eyeglasses. More seriously, have them go to System Preferences > Displays > and set a lower screen resolution. That will make everything larger.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

He was wearing glasses at the time, and yes we did try that. It just seemed odd to me that you can pretty much increase everything, but the Menu bar, if you enlarged things individually.

You can increase the Apps Tray at the bottom, adjust the view options in the Finder, and everything else with Accessibility System Pref, but nothing with the Menu size.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Try this:

System Preferences>Accessibility>Zoom

1. Uncheck "Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom"
2. Check "Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom"
3. Check "Smooth Images"
4. "Zoom Style": Picture-in-Picture
5. Click the "More Options..." button
6. "Window Position": Follow mouse cursor
7. "Cursor Style": System cursor
8. Check "Enable temporary zoom"
9. Click the "Adjust Size and Location" button
10. Make the zoom area fullscreen
11. Click "OK"
12. Click "Done"
13. Close System Preferences

Now the user should be able to hold down the Control and Option keys and get a full screen zoom that follows the mouse. Release the keys and it's back to normal.

In System Preferences>Accessibility>Display you might want to increase the cursor size.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

Try this:

System Preferences>Accessibility>Zoom

1. Check "Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom"
2. Check "Smooth Images"
3. "Zoom Style": Picture-in-Picture
4. Click the "More Options..." button
5. "Window Position": Follow mouse cursor
6. "Cursor Style": System cursor
7. Check "Enable temporary zoom"
8. Click the "Adjust Size and Location" button
9. Make the zoom area fullscreen
10. Click "OK"
11. Click "Done"
12. Close System Preferences

Now the user should be able to hold down the Control and Option keys and get a full screen zoom that follows the mouse. Release the keys and it's back to normal.

In System Preferences>Accessibility>Display you might want to increase the cursor size.

Thats a great solution, however I found out my uncle just returned the iMac a few days ago. :/

 

[BrianBaughn]

Thats a great solution, however I found out my uncle just returned the iMac a few days ago. :/

Too bad!

I just modified the steps for future reference. The scroll gesture could be problematic/annoying for a lot of users.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

Thanks for your help, Brian. I'll email this to my Uncle, and have him try it out.