Computer displays are growing bigger all the time, and that means they display graphics at much higher resolutions than old CRT monitors did. Although you can view more things on screen in higher definition, a larger display also makes everything look smaller, and it may even make text too hard to read.
Luckily, you can increase the size of text through software, without having to sacrifice that high-definition resolution. You have a few ways to accomplish this, but here are the easiest methods in several popular Web browsers and operating systems.
Windows 7
1. Click Start. Type Font Size in the search box, and press Enter.
2. In the Display window that appears, choose the Medium font size (125 percent of the default size) or the Larger font size (150 percent of the default size). If you don’t like those settings, you can fine-tune the text size to your liking by selecting the Set custom text size (DPI) option.
3. Click the Apply button. Windows will warn that the changes will not go into effect until you log off and then log back in to the system. Click Log Off Now to apply your changes.
Mac OS X
1. In OS X version 10.7 or later, open the Apple menu and select System Preferences.
2. In the System Preferences menu, select Universal Access.
3. Under the Seeing tab, locate the Zoom section and select On to enable zoom.
4. Hold down Command-Alt on your keyboard, and then tap the plus-sign (+) key to make the screen view larger, or tap the minus-sign/hyphen (–) key to make the screen view smaller. You can continue pressing either of these two keys until you reach a comfortable zoom level.
Google Chrome
1. Update to the latest version of the Google Chrome browser. Next, click the wrench icon in the upper-right corner of the Chrome window, and select Options.
2. In the navigation page, select Under the Hood.
3. In the Web Content section, click the Font Size drop-down menu. You can choose between multiple sizes of text ranging from Very Small to Very Large, and the changes will take effect immediately.
Mozilla Firefox
1. Update to the latest version of Firefox. Open a browser window, and then press the Alt key to bring up the File menu.
2. Click the View menu, then Zoom, then Zoom Text Only.
3. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, and then press the plus (+) key to make on-screen text larger or the minus/hyphen (–) key to make on-screen text smaller. You can continue to press either of the two keys to adjust the text size to your liking.
Internet Explorer
1. Open an Internet Explorer window and select the Gear icon in the upper-right corner. From there, select Zoom.
2. In the Zoom menu, choose a predefined zoom size (the default is 100 percent) ranging from 50 percent to 400 percent. If you’d prefer to fine-tune the size yourself, you can click the Custom option and specify your own percentage.
Remember, for optimal browsing and posture, adjust the size of on-screen text so that it permits you to read comfortably at a distance of 3 to 5 feet.