# New larger monitor has smaller text (especially SDMB) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816 "2009-05-09T02:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/1 "2009-05-09T02:51:43Z")
My new 22" widescreen HP monitor is harder to read than my old 15" CRT. Take the SDMB…the text is tiny and spread across the screen with fewer lines and tiny little text. When I “zoom in”, I have to keep dragging the page left and right (with the mouse and the margin bar at the bottom of the page) Is there a way to enlarge the text without having to keep the mouse arrow dragging the page back and forth? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/2 "2009-05-09T02:53:53Z")
You should be able to adjust the resolution so that everything appears larger. What operating system are you running – is it Windows XP or Vista or something? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/3 "2009-05-09T02:58:36Z")
Don’t adjust the resolution! LCDs are only meant to operate at one resolution - the picture quality will just get worse. What browser are you using? Most browsers have a zoom mode that enlarges the text, but does not cause the page to exceed the screen boundary. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/4 "2009-05-09T02:58:55Z")
I wouldn’t change the resolution, LCDs are designed only to be run at their native resolution, and anything else might make things appear really f-ed up. Just go into the View category and change the text size. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/5 "2009-05-09T03:27:54Z")
You can usually zoom the text size by holding the Ctrl key while spinning the mouse wheel (one direction is smaller, one is larger). The larger text should wrap, instead of poking off the edge of the screen requiring you to scroll. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/6 "2009-05-09T03:31:32Z")
It’s strange that zooming in causes you to have to scroll sideways. What OS and browser are you using? This doesn’t happen in FireFox under Windows, at least not for the SDMB. Most browsers let you set the default text size as well. Under Firefox it’s **Tools -\> Options -\> Content -\> Fonts & Colors**. If you want _everything_ displayed larger, and assuming you’re using Windows, you can change the system’s DPI setting. For Windows XP this is how: [ul] [li]Right-click on the desktop (the desktop itself, where no icons or windows are)[/li][li]Select **Properties** [/li][li]Select the **Settings** tab[/li][li]Click on the **Advanced** button[/li][li]There should be an entry field called **DPI setting**. It defaults to 96 dpi. Switch it to 120 dpi, or choose custom and enter some other number higher than the current number.[/li][/ul] If the **DPI setting** box is greyed out, first change the screen to a lower and standard resolution (e.g. 1024x768), thenc hange the DPI setting, and then change the resolution back to the native resolution. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/7 "2009-05-09T03:32:21Z")
Thanks for the quick replys. I can make the text larger (ctrl/shift +) or ctrl/mouse wheel. But the text refuses to “wrap” Darn these new fandangled things! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/8 "2009-05-09T03:36:40Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Don’t adjust the resolution! LCDs are only meant to operate at one resolution - the picture quality will just get worse. I don’t agree. I’m currently using a 22" widescreen monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050 but have it set to 1280x768. Things look fine to me. The key thing is to select a resolution with the correct proportions, because things will look bad if you select a resolution designed for a conventional monitor when you’ve got a widescreen one. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/9 "2009-05-09T03:36:52Z")
Internet explorer with windows vista here. System tools doesn’t have a properties selection ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/10 "2009-05-09T03:39:20Z")
[How to change the font size in Windows Vista](http://www.vista4beginners.com/How-to-change-font-size) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/11 "2009-05-09T03:41:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t agree. I’m currently using a 22" widescreen monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050 but have it set to 1280x768. Things look fine to me. It should look much better if you set it to the native resolution and increase the DPI setting. I use a **12"** (not 22") display with 1400x1050 resolution and it looks fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/12 "2009-05-09T03:54:09Z")
Ahhh…much better…thanks! The “How to change font size with Vista” did the trick. Thanks scr4…and everyone else! ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/13 "2009-05-09T16:52:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t agree. I’m currently using a 22" widescreen monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050 but have it set to 1280x768. Things look fine to me. The key thing is to select a resolution with the correct proportions, because things will look bad if you select a resolution designed for a conventional monitor when you’ve got a widescreen one. Indeed. Everybody says not to change the resolution on an LCD, but so far all of mine have looked pretty much fine at any resolution that was correctly proportioned. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-larger-monitor-has-smaller-text-especially-sdmb/495816/14 "2009-05-09T17:09:43Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > Everybody says not to change the resolution on an LCD, but so far all of mine have looked pretty much fine at any resolution that was correctly proportioned. It’ll work OK, especially if the native resolution is very high. But why would you want to give up screen resolution? Changing the resolution means you’re using larger pixels; everything becomes more blocky and jagged. Changing the DPI setting (see my description and link above), on the other hand, keeps the same pixel size. The text becomes larger not because each pixel becomes larger, but because each character will be made up of a larger number of pixels. The only time it makes sense to change the screen resolution is when you’re using software that doesn’t allow you to change the font size or window size.