# Ctrl+mousewheel = zoom in web browser **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978 "2009-05-11T00:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/1 "2009-05-11T00:14:00Z")
I just discovered this feature. Is new or have browsers been doing this for years? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/2 "2009-05-11T00:31:18Z")
I never heard of it before, thanks! It works in Firefox 3.0.8. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/3 "2009-05-11T00:36:43Z")
In OS X, it enlarges the entire screen. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/4 "2009-05-11T00:45:24Z")
I’m using in in Google Chrome, and I checked it in Internet Explorer. In IE, it zooms the entire page, in Google Chrome it only affects the font. The jury is still out on Chrome for me. **beowulff** I’ve got a macbook pro that I’ll have to try it out on. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/5 "2009-05-11T01:03:13Z")
It’s been in web browsers for years. MSIE did it at least ten years ago. Here’s a tip: In Firefox, if you use your scroll wheel to click on a link, it will open in a new tab automatically. If you use the scroll wheel to click on a tab, the tab closes. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/6 "2009-05-11T01:07:12Z")
I’ve been using it at least 4 years, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/7 "2009-05-11T01:14:28Z")
It’s been around for quite awhile. It also works in Excel, Word, Visio, Autocad and presumably other programs as well. Shift-scroll also has a special function in Visio, it pans left-right. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/8 "2009-05-11T08:10:51Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > In OS X, it enlarges the entire screen. Yeah. And not just in a web browser. It’s a system wide feature. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/9 "2009-05-11T14:30:04Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Yeah. And not just in a web browser. It’s a system wide feature. Yeah that’s what I thought he meant. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/10 "2009-05-11T14:44:49Z")
I’ve known about it for years, but I have to say I learned something new regarding the wheel-click to open in a new tab. Awesome. A couple of my most used keyboard shortcuts are [Windows Key] + E to open explorer, and [Windows Key] + M to minimize everything. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/11 "2009-05-11T15:03:19Z")
Just echoing what others have said: years, different with different browsers. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/12 "2009-05-11T15:09:55Z")
On Opera it affects the zoom of every element on the screen, even youtube video. Everything gets arranged to fit in the window though, so no spillover. Much better than the zoom in Firefox. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/13 "2009-05-11T19:02:57Z")
It’s been that way for years, and as **Mojo Pin** mentioned, Opera does every element, including Youtube videos and Flash games. Nicely handy for Flash games that run too big or too small by default. Flash even scales it’s vector graphics to the new window size. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/14 "2009-05-11T19:04:46Z")
Cooooo! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_Tightlips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@Joey\_Tightlips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_Tightlips)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/15 "2009-05-11T19:52:48Z")
Because I’m at work, I’m stuck with I.E 6 and the trick does not work. So maybe it came in with tabbed browsing. Thanks the the tip though, I’ll try it with FF at home tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/16 "2009-05-11T22:21:14Z")
Firefox 3.0 changed which direction meant zoom out/zoom in. I still often do the reverse of what I want - I was used to the 2.0 way. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ctrl-mousewheel-zoom-in-web-browser/495978/17 "2009-05-11T22:58:05Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Firefox 3.0 changed which direction meant zoom out/zoom in. I still often do the reverse of what I want - I was used to the 2.0 way. I think we even had a pit thread on that. IE7 was terrible – zooming SDMB didn’t word-wrap. It’s better in 8, but not by much. I rarely use it, but I think zooming one page zooms all tabs. FF just zooms the active tab (and links subsequently opened from it). It’s gotten a lot better over the years. Used to be that just text and a few elements zoomed, now just about the whole page does (though some things don’t at all and end up looking a bit lost). If you need to, ctrl-0 will reset the zoom.