Font issue--Bug or 'By Design'--you tell me!

[Guest]

I bought grandma a new Vista machine with a 20" LCD so she could see
everything big. Many web page fonts were too small on this high resolution
screen, so I went in IE to Tools, Internet Options, Accessibility, and I
checked "Ignore font sizes specified on webpages." That made IE browse with
big fonts, which was great. Then I went to Windows Mail, and I created a
stationery for her, specifying the font size to be 18 in all composed
messages (HTML). I went to compose a new message, and all the text I typed is
12, not 18! Nothing I did fixed it, until I found this MS KB support entry,
which says that because in IE I set to ignore font sizes (to make it easier
for grandma to see large fonts), Windows Mail can't be made to have fonts
larger than 12 because it 'relies' on that IE setting, which means grandma
has to choose between large fonts in IE OR Windows Mail, but not both! See
here, and let me know if I'm getting this right, if MS can be told this is a
bug, and if there are any workarounds. Thanks, Mike!
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q178895

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Would it work if you turned off the accessibility setting, and then
chose a larger text size in IE?

Another approach is to change the dots per inch (DPI) setting:
Control Panel, search for "DPI", Adjust font size (DPI).

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply.

Many or even most web sites today don't respond to viewing fonts larger. As
for increasing DPI, I did that, but at some point dialog boxes etc. look
strange with a larger DPI--even Microsoft's own Live OneCare, for example--if
your DPI is big enough (though not too big), when their dialog box for
allowing or declining access to a program comes up, you can't even read what
the program is because it's covered under the now larger fonts (i.e., the
dialog boxes aren't built for just any DPI, but only a small-medium DPI
setting).

Mike

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I know what you mean about the problem with dialog boxes.
When I experimented with this, 108-110% of normal font size
was the most I could go without cutting off part of the dialog.

In hindsight, it probably was a mistake to get a high resolution
LCD. One with a medium resolution, 1024 x 768, would
have been better. I'm sure you know that when LCDs are set for
resolutions lower than their native resolution, the text does not
look sharp.

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Guest]

Grandpa wanted a large screen to view his digital camera images nice and big,
so I got them the 20" LCD. And speaking of grandpa, because Microsoft took
out the multiple identities feature in Windows Mail, I had to get grandpa to
use Thunderbird instead of WM! Sometimes I don't know what Microsoft is
thinking when it's making feature decisions.

 

[Steve Cochran]

Can she use Plain text messaging instead of HTML?

steve

 

[Guest]

Hey, I am not a grandma yet, and I have trouble seeing stuff on the internet
too.
I have changed the dpi to 140% ( really sets at 135%) and also told IE7 to
ignore the website thingy. NOW i can't see my email OR my AIM chats because
they depend on IE.

Since these posts are old, and today is 7-11, has anything been discovered
to work around this problem??

Thanks!!

 

[Steve Cochran]

In WinMail, you can go to View | Text size and change the text size there.

steve

 

[Guest]

Yes but not in reply mode. I do not see it there.
In create new mail, yes that works.

Thanks!!!

 

[Steve Cochran]

You are correct. Sorry, I don't know a way around that.

steve