Making Your Web Browser Show Larger Fonts

If you're viewing a page on the web, and the letters are too small to read, most web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, have easy ways to let you enlarge or reduce the size of the letters, or fonts.

Note: The following notes apply to Microsoft's Windows operating systems. Similar menus and shortcuts are available for browsers running on other operating systems.

If you are using recent versions of Internet Explorer, you can use the "View" menu to adjust the font size. Click on "View", then "Text Size" (in Internet Explorer 6), "Text" (in Internet Explorer 5) or "Fonts" (in Internet Explorer 4). You'll see a list of five font sizes to choose from. You may also use shortcut keys to traverse this menu. The secret here is to use the underlined letters in the menu items, in combination with the Alt key. (See the note about Alt and Ctrl key combinations). For instance, in Internet Explorer 5 or 6

     Alt/(Vxg)

and in Internet Explorer 4

     Alt/(Vng)

will pick the largest font size without having to use the mouse.

If you are using Netscape Navigator 7 or Mozilla 1, you can increase and decrease the size of fonts by clicking the "View" menu, then "Text Zoom", then "Larger" or "Smaller". You can use shortcut keys to traverse this menu as well, by using the underlined letters in the menu items, in combination with the Alt key.

But there is a much simpler shortcut: under Netscape 6 or 7 or Mozilla 1, simply type:

     Ctrl/+

to increase the font size, and

     Ctrl/-

to decrease it.

Under Netscape 4, simply type:

     Ctrl/]

to increase the font size, and

     Ctrl/[

to decrease it.

Using the Access Keys
Access Keys are a way to navigate to parts of our website without having to visually locate links.

Other Computer Resources for Visually Impaired Persons
The Screen Magnifiers site has a good page of links to resources for visually impaired persons.

The following are good places to start for help with the most popular desktop operating systems:

Microsoft: Products and Aids

Apple: Special Needs - Vision

Linux: Linux Accessibility HOWTO