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Help For Web Beginners

Changing the Size of the Letters on Your Screen

Current trends in website design include the use of increasingly smaller letters. While this can make for more interesting layouts, it can make it difficult for people with limited or poor eyesight to view a website.

The good news is that you have the ability to make the letters or text appear larger. The only potential snag is that when the letters are made larger, the layout of the page may suffer. Hopefully, the page was designed to allow the letters change size without making the page unreadable.

Please Note: This task has several steps that can be completed either by using the keyboard (Option 1) or using your mouse (Option 2). You will only need to complete either Option 1 or Option 2, but not both.

Here's how to change letter size on your screen...

While viewing a page with lettering you want bigger or smaller:

(Complete either Option 1 or Option 2 below)

Option 1: Press and hold the ALT key. While still holding down the ALT key, tap the V key once. Release both keys.

Option 2: Use your mouse to position the arrow over the word View near the top left of the screen. Click on the word View.

A list or menu should appear. On that menu about mid-way down are the words Text Size.

(Complete either Option 1 or Option 2 below)

Option 1: Press the X key.

Option 2: Use your mouse to position the arrow over the words Text Size and once the letters appear in white on a dark background (highlighted), click.

You should see a list: Smallest, Smaller, Medium, Larger, Largest. The one shown with a small black circle next to it is the one currently selected.

To change the size of the letters:

(Complete either Option 1 or Option 2 below)

Option 1: Notice how each item in the list has a letter underlined. Press that letter on your keyboard to select that size, i.e. press the G key to select Largest.

Option 2: Use your mouse to move the arrow over the size you desire. Once the one you want is displayed in white text on a dark background (highlighted) click to select that size.

Congratulations, you can now change the size of the text that appears on your screen!

Letters still not big enough?

Unfortunately, if the largest size doesn't make the lettering large enough, you have limited options. You might need to purchase a larger monitor or buy one of the gadgets that work like a magnifying glass that can be hung on your monitor.

A potential unwanted side-effect

If the webpage designer did not allow in their layout for you to make the lettering larger, you may notice that the page appears to run off of your screen.

The good news is that it is still there.

The information can be seen by using your scrollbars. If you do not know how to use your scrollbars, please visit Scrolling & Viewing More, to learn how to view the information that runs off of the screen.

Be sure to check out Help For Web Beginners other Beginner Internet Tutorials.

About the Author

HelpForWebBeginners.com is a website dedicated to providing free, easy to understand, online How To's for true web beginners. While the materials are not free or available for reprints, they are offered freely for individual use. Please use the contact page to let Michele know if this tutorial has been helpful or if there are any other beginner web programming related tutorials you would like to see.