Changing text size

Magnifying the screen

Making text larger in your browser

This section tells you how to make your text bigger in a range of the most popular web browsers for Windows

Introduction

A lot of web pages can be difficult to view because the text is too small to comfortably read.

Choose from the following Windows web browsers for step-by-step instructions on how to increase the size of the text on any web page you are viewing:

Making text larger in Firefox .

Making text larger in Internet Explorer .

Making text larger in Netscape .

Making text larger in Opera

Internet Explorer

Instructions

1. Open the ' View ' menu with the mouse or by pressing ' Alt'+'V ' .
2. Select the ' Text Size ' option with the mouse or by pressing ' X ' .
3. Choose your preferred text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing ' Enter ' or by clicking on it.

The text on our website should now have changed to reflect your choice.

Some websites have fixed the size of their text ('hard-coded') and as a result these websites will not show the change you have just made. If you would like to use your larger text on these sites follow the following steps:

1. Clcik on the ' Tools ' menu with the mouse or press ' Alt '+' T ' .
2. Click on ' Internet Options ' option with the mouse or press ' O ' . You should now see the ' Internet Options ' box as shown in Fig 1 , below.

Fig 1

Click on the ' Accessibility ' button which is highlighted with a red circle in Fig 1 with the mouse or press ' Alt '+ ' E ' .

Fig 2

Click the ' Ignore font sizes specified on web page ' checkbox to add a tick or press ' Alt '+' Z ' as shown in Fig 2. Click the ' OK ' button twice with the mouse or press ' Enter ' twice, to return to Internet Explorer. Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Firefox

Instructions

Follow these steps to increase or decrease the size of the text for the web page you are viewing:

1. Open the ' View ' menu with the mouse or by press ' Alt ' and ' V ' at the same time.
2. Select the ' Text Size ' option with the mouse or by pressing ' S ' twice.
3. Increase or decrease the text size with the mouse or by using the up and down arrow keys and pressing ' Enter '.
4. Alternatively you can press ' Ctrl ' and ' + ' to increase the text size, ' Ctrl ' and ' - ' to decrease the text size. ' Ctrl ' and ' 0 ' returns you to the default size.

Follow these steps to set a minimum text size for all pages you visit:

1. Open the ' Tools ' menu with the mouse or press ' Alt ' + ' T ' .
2. Click on ' Options', or press ' O ' , to open the Options dialog box.
3. Make sure that the ' General ' option is selected - if not either click on it or press ' Tab ' until it is highlighted (in blue) and then press the ' Enter ' key.
4. Click on ' Fonts & Colors ' , or press ' F ' , to open the ' Fonts and Colors ' dialog box (see Fig 1 below).
5. Click on ' Minimum font size ' box or press ' Alt '+' Z ' . Use the up and down arrows to select a new font size and press ' Enter '.
6. Click on ' Always use my:' 'Fonts ' checkbox, or tab to this checkbox and press the ' Spacebar '.
7. Click ' OK ' button or press ' Enter ' .
8. Click ' OK ' button or tab to ' OK ' button and press ' Enter ' .

Fig 1

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Netscape

Instructions

To increase the text size:

1. Click on the ' View ' menu with the mouse or pressing ' Alt '+' V ' .
2. Click on the ' Text Zoom ' option with the mouse or press ' Z ' .
3. Click on the text size you want with the mouse or use the up and down keys and then ' Enter ' to select the text size you want .

The text on our website should now have changed to reflect your choice. If you are using an earlier version of Netscape than version 7 then the above instructions will not work on some websites because of the way they have fixed (hard-coded) the size of their text.

You can also set a minimum font size for all the web pages you visit in your browser preferences as an alternative to using the ' Text Zoom ' option. To do so:

1. Click on the ' Edit ' menu with the mouse or press ' Alt '+' E ' .
2. Click on ' Preferences ' or press ' E ' to open the preferences dialog box.
3. Click on the ' Font ' heading underneath the ' Appearance ' category or use the arrow keys to select ' Font ' . If you cannot see the ' Font ' heading, you may need to expand the ' Appearance ' category. Do this by either double clicking on ' Appearance', or selecting ' Appearance ' with the arrow keys and pressing the right arrow key. (See Fig 1 ).

Fig 1

1. Click on the drop down box next to ' Minimum font size : ' as highlighted in Fig 1 and choose a font size by clicking on it or press the ' Tab ' key until the box is highlighted, then press the up arrow to expand the list, choose a new font size by selecting the size you want with the ' up ' and ' down ' arrow keys and then press ' Enter ' .
2. If there is a tick in the checkbox ' Allow documents to use other fonts you might need to uncheck it for your minimum font size to work, to do this click on the box to uncheck it or press the ' Tab ' key until the checkbox is highlighted and then press the ' Spacebar ' to uncheck it.
3. Now click ' OK ' or press ' Enter ' to return to Netscape.
   

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Opera

Instructions

Unlike in Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, Opera can increase the size of images as well as text.

You can quickly increase or decrease the size of both text and graphics using the numberpad ' + ' and ' - ' keys. Each press will increase or decrease the size by 10%. However the changes will not be remembered next time you open Opera.

To permanently increase or decrease the size of the text follow these steps:

Opera versions 6 and 7

1. Click on the ' File ' menu with the mouse and then click ' Preferences ' or press ' Alt ' + ' F ' .
2. Click on ' Page Style ' from the list of option on the left or press the ' down ' arrow key to highlight it. (see Fig 1 - note the: Opera 6 dialog box will look slightly different ).

Fig 1

1. Click on the drop down box next to ' Default Zoom ' as shown in Fig 1 and then click on the zoom size you want or press ' Alt ' + ' Z ' and then use the ' up ' and ' down ' arrow keys to select the zoom size you want.
2. Click the ' OK ' button or press ' Enter ' to return to Opera.

Opera version 8

1. Click on the ' Tools' ' menu with the mouse and then click on ' Preferences ' or press ' Ctrl '+ ' F12 ' .
2. Click on the ' Web pages ' tab with the mouse or press ' Ctrl ' + ' Tab ' to cycle through the tabs until ' Web pages ' is selected (see Fig 2 Below).
3. Click on the ' Page Zoom ' option box and select your zoom size or press the ' Tab ' key twice to select the page zoom option box and use the up and down arrow keys to select your zoom size.
4. Click the ' OK ' button or press ' Enter ' to return to Opera.
   

Fig 2

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Magnifying the screen

Instructions

Open the Windows magnifier using the following steps:

1. Open the ' Start ' menu by clicking on the ' Start ' button or by pressing the Windows logo key (located between the ' Ctrl ' and ' Alt ' keys on most keyboards ) alternatively press ' Ctrl ' + ' Esc '.
2. Click on ' Programs ' or alternatively press ' P ' on the keyboard until 'Programs' is highlighted and then ' Enter ' .
3. Click on ' Accessories ' or press ' A ' on the keyboard until ' Accessories ' is highlighted and then press ' Enter ' .
4. Click on ' Accessibility ' or if you are using the keyboard, it will already be highlighted so just press ' Enter ' .
5. Click on ' Magnifier ' or press ' M ' and when ' Magnifier ' is highlighted, press ' Enter ' on the keyboard.
6. The magnifier is now turned on and the settings box appears.
7. You can click in the magnification level box to change the level of magnification (highlighted in Fig 1 below ) or use the up and down arrow keys.
8. You can minimise the magnifier settings box by clicking the minimise button or by pressing ' Alt ' + ' Space ' and then press ' N ' .

Fig 1

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.