Have you ever found yourself staring at a blog or web site and wishing the text size was large enough for you to read it with ease? Or have you experienced the opposite; text that you wished you could shrink? There are some easy keyboard shortcuts you can use to increase or decrease the size of text on any web page you view by making adjustments to your browser.
Note: The adjustments won’t change text size in images, flash animations, etc., and zooming in or zooming out may change the way the layout displays on some web pages you view, causing unintended affects.
1. PC users – how to change font size in Firefox
Keyboard shortcut – Hold down the <CTRL> key and click the “+” or “-” key to increase or decrease font size as required. Click <CTRL> and “0” to return to default text size.
Alternative Method to change font size in Firefox
- Click View on the browser Menu Bar.
- Select Zoom and click then select text size.
2. PC users – how to change font size in Microsoft Internet Explorer (All Versions):
- Click View on the browser Menu Bar.
- Select Text Size.
3. Mac OS X users – How to increase or decrease web browser font size in Firefox and in Safari
Keyboard shortcut : Hold down <Apple> ‘ and ‘ click the “+” or “-” key to increase or decrease font size as required and < cmd > + 0 restores text to the default size.
< cmd > = <Apple>
4. Google Chrome – How to increase or decrease web browser font size
Keyboard Shortcut: Hold down the < CTRL> and click the “+” or “-” key to increase or decrease font size as required. To restore font size to default use <CTRL> + 0.
5. Opera – How to increase or decrease web browser font size
Keyboard Shortcut: You can quickly increase or decrease the size of both text and graphics using the numberpad ‘ + ‘ (or ‘ 0 ‘ ) and ‘ - ‘ (or ‘ 9 ‘ ) keys. Each click will increase or decrease the size by 10%.
Related posts found in this blog:
What browser?
Google Chrome: A New Browser for Windows
Browser Tutorials
Browser Basics
Which Browser and Version?
Panos
January 19, 2010
We Mac users don’t call it “Apple”: we call it “Command” (“cmd” on our keyboards).
timethief
January 19, 2010
@Panos
You will laugh when you hear this. I originally had < cmd > in the text above but I decided to go with < Apple > :D
Panos
January 20, 2010
Ha!
Used to be Apple as well, dropped a few years ago – full account here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key
Official help pages don’t use a word anyway, they use the “place of interest” sign. I would tell you to use the html for that, but, you guessed it, won’t show up in IE…
timethief
January 20, 2010
:D :D :D
Omar Modesto
January 19, 2010
Using the scroll wheel in combination with CTRL also works to easily scale the text (at least on Firefox and IE).
timethief
January 19, 2010
Hi Omar,
Long time no chat. I discovered the scroll wheel and CTRL combination by accident one day. I had to call a friend to get him to figure out what I had done because I didn’t have a clue why the text was HUGE.
Thanks for reading and commenting. I hope you, your family and the canines are all well and happy too. :)
David
January 20, 2010
… and cmd + 0 restores text to the default size on a Mac.
timethief
January 20, 2010
Thanks David. :)
bats0711
January 20, 2010
Looking good TT. :) I just the font a tad big for what I normally need with my browser and the gray isn’t so bad. I love the return to top option!
bats0711
January 20, 2010
Was supposed to read “change the font”.
timethief
January 20, 2010
Understood. :) However, the gray font on the black background is a challenge for some of us to read – too little contrast.
vimokshananda
February 3, 2010
I have 10.6.2 Mac OS X.
I just move two fingers opposite side horizontally on the Trackpad and the screen zooms!
timethief
February 4, 2010
Now that’s easy isn’t it?
Taz
June 18, 2010
Thanks so much. That was very helpful
timethief
June 18, 2010
@Taz
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and tell me that you found value in the post. Happy blogging! :)
Mark Armstrong
August 18, 2010
Wonderful! I had no idea– thanks, TT!
Simunye
March 2, 2011
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, Thanks TT for the tip and for helping me in the forum.
I have trouble reading some websides because the letters are to smal…you are a STAR,
timethief
March 2, 2011
I’m so glad you found this article to be a useful one. Happy blogging! :)
Jessica
December 11, 2011
Thank Goodness! I thought my font was going to be small forever. Somehow I managed to shrink the text and I couldn’t fix it, so I started to look at Google for answers. It took me twenty minutes to find this page. Better late than never, I guess.
timethief
December 12, 2011
I’m glad you found it. This is such an easy fix. Sometimes we accidentally click ZOOM on our browsers but that too can be adjusted.