Web Reading Made Easy – Using Your Keyboard and Mouse to Enlarge the Fonts You See

Do you ever receive email where the type (font size) is very small and difficult to read? Or, conversely, you go to an Internet web page and, again, the font is very small and challenging to follow?

The are a few ways that you can make what you want to read easier on your eyes. It’s my intent, with Technology for Seniors Made Easy,  to make using your computer and the web as simple as possible.  Thus, rather than give you drop down menus instructions and a lot of details,  I direct you to your keyboard.

The above image is a photograph of my Mac electronic keyboard. The process is the same for whatever keyboard you have.  There are 3 keys only that you have to be aware of:

  1. The Control Key (PC)  – Command Key (Mac)
  2. The + (plus) Key
  3. The – (minus) Key

In e-mail
To Enlarge the font (type) size for for reading, simply place your mouse in the body of the email and click on the Control Key (on a PC) or the Command Key (on a Mac)
and the + (plus) Key. Keep clicking until the print is readable for you.
To go back and reduce the size, simply click on the Control Key and the – (minus) Key

On Web Pages
Simply place your mouse on the web page and use the same process –
Control  + or Command + to enlarge and Control –  or Command – to make smaller.  The whole page will increase or decrease in size, depending on which keys you use.

UPDATE – Added TipUsing the Control Key and Your Mouse
After posting this I was informed that, if you have a Scroll Wheel on your mouse  you can also Increase Size by  holding down the Control Key (both PC and Mac) on your keyboard and simply Scrolling forward with your Mouse.  It will enlarge the page and scrolling back will reduce it to its original size.  It will not go smaller than the original size.

While testing this, I discovered that I could use the same process to increase the size of the fonts as I was typing this post and when typing an email. This is great, should you want to see the print really large as you work, yet don’t want to, or can’t change the actual size on the web.

Then I went to Facebook, where I’m often frustrated when going to type my posts, reading what I typed.  This Control >Scrolling process for seeing the letters larger as we type works here also!

NOTE:  The person sharing this tip is a PC user. I immediately went to my Wireless Mouse on my Mac to see if it works there also. The SAME RESULTS!

REMEMBER – You MUST keep the Control Key depressed as you are scrolling for this to work!

Final Note: These easy ways will work most of the time. There may be a couple of exceptions.  If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section of this post.


Comments

Web Reading Made Easy – Using Your Keyboard and Mouse to Enlarge the Fonts You See — 2 Comments

  1. Shelia,

    I consider myself pretty computer savvy but I’m always looking for tips that will enhance my computer experience.

    You have some great tips on your site. They are easy to understand for a beginner and also helpful to those with some experience.

    Thank you for sharing access to tips not usually found in the manual.

  2. Thanks so much, Gladys. I appreciate the feedback. Even though as coaches, we keep our egos out of the picture, it certainly helps and empowers that “feel good” part of ourselves to hear that differences are being made.

    I love making new discoveries and sharing them. I’m also quite cognizant of needing it simple, especially for seniors. Of course, this is not limited to any particular age group.

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