Need Bigger Words!!, Part 2

Part 2, How do I make things bigger?

(Click here to read Part 1)

OKAY, SO HOW TO I MAKE THE WORDS BIGGER?

To answer that question depends on the Internet browser you are using. Today I’ll talk about Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) browsers.

Safari (Apple OS X computers)

One of the nice features about Safari is it gives you a choice of enlarging words, or enlarging the whole page!

To make just the words bigger in Safari.

1. Click the VIEW from the top menu bar, and click the “ZOOM TEXT ONLY” to turn that feature on (a check mark next to it lets you know it’s turned on).
   

   Turning on "Zoom Text Only" changes the size of words.

    

2. Go back to VIEW, click ZOOM IN. You can keep zooming in until the text is big enough for you to read.
   

   See? Only the words get bigger!

    

To enlarge the entire web page with Safari.

1. Go back to VIEW and if there’s a check mark next to “ZOOM TEXT ONLY”, click on it to uncheck it. Then, just like before, click the “ZOOM IN” and watch what happens.
   

   Ah, now everything gets bigger!

    

If you want to go back to the original size, it’s easy! Just go to VIEW, and select “ACTUAL SIZE”.

Don’t worry, Windows people! Now I’ll show you how to make things bigger in Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer (Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7)

Internet Explorer (or “IE” for short) does things a little different than Safari.

To set the text size using IE:

1. On the top row of commands, click VIEW.
2. Select TEXT SIZE.
   

   Changing the size of our words

3. Then, choose a bigger (or smaller) size.
4. Now your words should be easier to read.
   

   Bigger words, same size pictures.

To enlarge the entire web page with IE

1. Go back to that top row of commands and click VIEW.
2. Select ZOOM.
   

   IE gives us two ways to resize web pages.

3. Here IE gives you a choice:
   • To make little changes, click ZOOM IN until the page is the size you like.
   • Or, click on one of the % numbers to make the page bigger or smaller.
     

     Ah, everything in the right proportions.

Not all web pages will be so cooperative like mine. Some web sites may only re-size some of the text and some sites won’t change at all.  But those sites won’t know that unless you tell them.  Otherwise, they will continue to think that everyone is happy looking at teeny tiny print.

Next week, I’ll show how to “make bigger words” using three more popular Internet browsers.

— The Computer Cat