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search bar and web sites are in tiny print. How resolve?

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Previously, I had no trouble getting font sizes that I wanted. However, I appear to have done something wrong, and the text in the Mozilla search bar and websites are tiny and almost impossible to read. I have tried a number of recommendations on the internet but none have enabled me to change the font back to a normal size. Hope someone has a solution, because this is very frustrating.

Previously, I had no trouble getting font sizes that I wanted. However, I appear to have done something wrong, and the text in the Mozilla search bar and websites are tiny and almost impossible to read. I have tried a number of recommendations on the internet but none have enabled me to change the font back to a normal size. Hope someone has a solution, because this is very frustrating.

All Replies (2)

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By default, Firefox follows your Windows "Text Size" setting. On laptops, that's often 125%. On desktop systems, it may be 100%. But Firefox also lets you override this and specify your own scaling factor.

This will scale up both the text and the icons in the toolbar area, and in web pages. Here's how to give it a try:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button promising to be careful or accepting the risk.

(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste devp and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx preference and enter 1.5 and click OK. This is equivalent to setting the "Text Size" in Windows to 150%.

What do you think, is this the same, better, too large? You can experiment with this setting, but I suggest not making it smaller than 1 and not making it larger than 3.

If things get out of control, you can right-click the setting and choose Reset, which is the bottom item on the right-click context menu.

Can you find a size that works well overall?

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Also, do you use any add-ons related to font sizes or zoom? You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions.

Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything that could be modifying font sizes or zoom levels? If in doubt, disable (or remove).

Some legacy extensions are only effectively disabled when you exit and restart Firefox. You'll see a link to restart Firefox when that is necessary, and you can complete your work on this tab and click that link as the last step.

Any improvement?