firefox display too small to read

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
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bodhoakland
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Joined: November 15th, 2004, 7:57 am

firefox display too small to read

Post by bodhoakland »

I'm running Firefox on my laptop which has a screen resolution that's too small for these aging eyes to see. I can't seem to change the resolution on the screen; Windows says that my screen has an optimum resolution and automatically resets it to this micro mode. IE, however, will load full screen. When I load Firefox, it loads in a window only 3/4 of the screen. Maximizing the window just gives a lot of dead space. It doesn't change the size of the image. Customizing the font size makes the font larger, but not the image, so that I get readable font in areas too small to display it. And type that's part of the image isn't changed in size.

I'm running Win XP (with SP-2 installed) on a Dell Latitude D-600.

Any suggestions?
Guest
Guest

Post by Guest »

Try doing Ctrl-+ or Ctrl--. Doing the first will increase the entire page step by step. Doing the latter will decrease the entire page step by step.

KAS
bodhoakland
Posts: 5
Joined: November 15th, 2004, 7:57 am

Post by bodhoakland »

Thanks, but again, that increases the font size only, leaving graphics unchanged. It makes pages display in a bizarre way. And it must be done each time I open Firefox. I'm looking for a way to enlarge the entire image, and to make that a default. Any other suggestions out there?
Mikey_C
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Location: uk
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Post by Mikey_C »

Are you saying that Firefox does not fill the entire screen? What resolution are you running at?
bodhoakland
Posts: 5
Joined: November 15th, 2004, 7:57 am

Post by bodhoakland »

I misstated that issue. Whether Firefox fills the screen or not depends on the web site. Those, like Google News, that are entirely text, fill the window, and using ctrl-+ enlarges everything just fine. Those web sites that contain more graphics don't enlarge. The Firefox window enlarges, but the graphic content doesn't, or enlarges in an idiosyncratic way (e.g., see CNN.com).

Resolution set at 1400 x 1050
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Lee_Dailey
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Location: milky way galaxy, sol system, terra, north america, usa, tx, bedford

Post by Lee_Dailey »

howdy bodhoakland,

there is a setting in windows - in the display settings - thta tells it the dots-per-inch. it's usually "large fonts" [125 dpi] or small fonts [96 dpi] and SOME video drivers allow a custom setting. mine allows anything from 24 dpi to 300 dpi. [*grin*]

DPI is not RESOLUTION. mainly cuz it aint really dpi, it's a way to scale virtual screen dots to REAL screen dots. smaller numbers give you a grainier - and therefore larger - display "dpi".

try switching from large to small fonts. that may be all you need to do.

take care,
lee
Guest
Guest

Post by Guest »

can you post a screenshot?? (use imageshack.us for host if you want)
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Lee_Dailey
Posts: 14194
Joined: July 27th, 2004, 4:33 pm
Location: milky way galaxy, sol system, terra, north america, usa, tx, bedford

Post by Lee_Dailey »

howdy guest-who-i-presume-is-bodhoakland,

screen shots won't do ya any good since that setting is driver specific.

for ME it's here ...
start/settings/control-panel/display/settings-tab/advanced-button/general-tab/display/font-size

[*grin*] and it will amost CERTAINLY be somewhere else for you! as i said it's driver specific. video card/controller driver specifc ...

lookee ...
http://compreviews.about.com/od/multime ... idSpec.htm
"
The drawback to high resolution displays is that fonts tend to be smaller and more difficult to read. This can be a particular drawback for people who have poor eyesight. It can be compensated by changing the font size in the operating system, but this can have unintended results in programs.
"

this is from the m$ techdoc site ...
m$ dpi settings doc

take care,
lee
bodhoakland
Posts: 5
Joined: November 15th, 2004, 7:57 am

Post by bodhoakland »

Thanks, guys. My video card will also let me choose custom font sizes. The effect is the same as when I use ctrl-+ to change the font size. It grows the font without changing the size of graphics, leading to fonts larger than the spaces some web pages allow for them to be displayed. That's a problem.

The small display seems to be a Firefox problem, though. When I use IE, I can enlarge the display to be full screen, including graphics. I also notice that when I print a screen with Firefox, the image printed is much smaller than when I do the same using IE.

As for posting a screen shot, Lee says that won't work. And I don't know how to do that anyhow. :-(
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Lee_Dailey
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Joined: July 27th, 2004, 4:33 pm
Location: milky way galaxy, sol system, terra, north america, usa, tx, bedford

Post by Lee_Dailey »

howdy bodhoakland,

the link i gave ya was wrong! sorry! [*grin*]

lookee ...
"To change your Window fonts"
m$ font size controls

"To increase or decrease the size of objects and text on your screen"
m$ OBJECT size controls

you need to use the 2nd one, not the first. [*grin*] the 1st one only sets a font size while the 2nd sets the DPI and thus the size of EVERYthing including grpahic objects.

take care,
lee
roberoi
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Post by roberoi »

The problem seems to be that FireFox's "Display Resolution" setting (under Tools, Options, Fonts & Colours) is broken. It does nothing. Zip, zilch, nada, even on the latest nightly build. I have set it over 700dpi and the page display stays exactly the same. THIS SETTING CURRENTLY DOES NOTHING! IT IS A HOAX! For FireFox to display many sites correctly, it needs to be made to work.

For those of us with high-resolution screens (I have UXGA, 1600x1200) Microsoft has addressed the problem and Firefox hasn't. This isn't uncommon in open-source applications. I am posting this around the forum in the hope that someone who knows their way around the FireFox code will take it up. See the URLs:

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;EN-US;Q820286
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/auth ... ighdpi.asp

On IE therefore, setting the DPI settings in the Display Control Panel correctly and setting the UseHR registry key results in correct (full-screen) display, though the images are slightly pixelated. This is certainly better than squinting at a site squished into 50% of the left half of your screen, as is unfortunately the case on FireFox with many sites (eg. www.nytimes.com).
bodhoakland
Posts: 5
Joined: November 15th, 2004, 7:57 am

Post by bodhoakland »

Thank you, Roberoi! It seemed that everyone was telling me to do what I'd already done, and not hearing that this was a Firefox problem, not a Windows problem. I hope that your posts will yield results soon!
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