Computer Basics - Resizing Web Pages and Changing Text Sizes - Picture

Yes, I said Basics, and I mean it!

I find myself looking at a lot of long lists in web pages.  A LOT of text.  I found myself getting annoyed at not seeing enough on a single page so I started changing the sizes of the page.  That's easy and works well, but only on that particular web page.  I wanted all the text to be smaller to fit more "stuff" on a page.

There are two slightly different ways to do it.

First method - Change "this" web page to be larger or smaller.  This is going to work for a given domain (from what I can tell) and will work on Firefox as well as Internet Explorer and probably on Chrome.

Three simple key commands -

• Larger - Ctrl and + (plus sign) at the same time
• Smaller - Ctrl and - (minus sign) at the same time
• Back to "normal" - Ctrl and 0 (zero) at the same time

 What that will do is bump the text up or down a step, and it will make the pictures get larger and smaller at the same time.   It's like moving closer or farther away from your monitor.

Second method - Change only the text to be larger or smaller.  This will work EVERYWHERE, so be aware.  Going up one or two steps, or down the same, works fairly well but it may make the web page look a little strange since the pictures will not change.   It also may not work at all on a specific web page since the web designer decided to force a specific size of the text on the end user.  Bad form and controlling but it does work.

Since this setting is going to stay stuck everywhere until you change it back, we'll call it "permanent" and leave things at that.

In Firefox, click Tools and Options to get the basic Options page.

1. Click on the Content Tab (circled).
2. Click on Advanced (circled).
3. Click on the Size Buttons (circled) to change the two sizes.  
4. Click OK and OK again on each window.

I recommend that you do each by one or two points and see how you well it works for you, but change them both by the same amount.