Change base font size

[bruce@bearsoft]

Hi,
I have now had a nice 27" 2560x1440 pixel Job for about 3 1/2 weeks, but I can't stop it using a base system font which renders letters on screen at about 1.5mm high.

One of your threads gives this answer: click on the backround, go to view, view options and set the font size.

Yes it does set the font size used in the screen icons, but the font used in the window it opened remains resolutely minute.

To compose an email, I must set the font to 24 pt, but then forget to reset it before sending the email. The zoom function does not seem to be available in composer.

I suspect this is a feature Apple have not thought of adding, even though Acorn had in 1985 and Windows managed to catch up in the 90s.

Somewhere deep in the OS, a basic dpi is used to paint fonts into pixel form from their outline definition. It should be possible to write the code to change this in less than a day.

 

[MisterMe]

The Mac has two ways to adjust type size--neither of which you appear to be aware of. The Universal Access preferences pane has been around since forever. The Displays preferences pane allows you to set your pixel density to a value that is comfortable.

 

[bruce@bearsoft]

I am fully aware of these and if you read my postings you would have noted that they do not provide a way of changing the size of the system font. Zoom only magnifies the pixel image, it does not re-paint the font onto its pixel image.

Changing the screen resolution defeats the object of buying an expensive Mac with 2560x1440 screen.

 

[MisterMe]

I am fully aware of these and if you read my postings you would have noted that they do not provide a way of changing the size of the system font. Zoom only magnifies the pixel image, it does not re-paint the font onto its pixel image.

Changing the screen resolution defeats the object of buying an expensive Mac with 2560x1440 screen.

A lot of Mac newbies who come this forum and others like it looking for prescriptions for remedies to fix misdiagnosed problems. Text size of 1.5 mm is not normal. Setting text to 24 pt. is not the correct remedy for this abnormal text size. Changing the System font size is a terrible prescription that does nothing to address your problem.

I assume that you have a new iMac running MacOS X 10.6. In this OS, it is easy to change the magnification of some applications' display windows. Based on your description, you seem to have changed the magnification of Mail's message windows. However, I not been able to duplicate your problem. It is difficult to diagnose a problem using back-and-forth messages in a fan forum.

My suggestion is to try to retrace the steps that led to your current text size. Forget about the System fonts. Messing with them will cause a world of hurt.

 

[bruce@bearsoft]

I am a newbie to mac, but a geek on RiscOs and an expert on Windows.

This screen contains text "Quote message in reply" below. This does respond to cmd + because this is a safari page, but this same font size is used when I hover the pointer over the Apple - One to One link at the top of the page and that does not respond to cmd+

RiscOs, which was inspired by Apple around 1985 and improved on Apple's wimp environment, gave the option of specifying the dpi with which the pixel versions of the font characters are painted using the outline definitions. Microsoft caught up with this in the late 90s.
The annoying thing is that while apple must be using the same technique as RiscOs to generate the pixel images, they have not put in a way of changing the dpi which is probably less than a morning's work for a competent programmer.

 

[MisterMe]

I am a newbie to mac, but a geek on RiscOs and an expert on Windows.

...

RiscOs, which was inspired by Apple around 1985 and improved on Apple's wimp environment, gave the option of specifying the dpi with which the pixel versions of the font characters are painted using the outline definitions. Microsoft caught up with this in the late 90s.
The annoying thing is that while apple must be using the same technique as RiscOs to generate the pixel images, ...

You are not running RISC OS. You are not running Windows.

You are making a classic mistake that will get you nowhere. You have come to MacOS X with solutions in search of a problem. The thing is that these are RISC OS and Windows solutions but you are searching for the problem on the Mac.

I infer from your latest post that your attempts to force your Mac to make use of your RISC OS knowledge is the cause of your problem. Learn to use the Mac. It is easy and fun.