Help me Mr. and Ms. Wizards. Font size is HUGE on screen. What did I do?

[Dem2theMax]

I know it has something to do with the scroll button on the mouse. I think. lol? Anyway, all of a sudden the font size is a heck of lot bigger than normal. I remember reading something about this somewhere long ago, but I have no idea of how I did it or how I fix it. Someone please help me before I go :crazy:

Thank you ahead of time for helping out a computer illiterate person. :)

[welshTerrier2]

1. a few ideas ...

first of all, is this just happening on DU? is it just happening in your browser? are you using IE or another browser?

DU only: go to the thread index for any forum or group ... near the upper left corner of the page, you should see a link that says "switch to normal fonts" ... try that ...

IE: on the "view" menu, click "text size" and choose "medium" if it's not already selected ... also, on the "tools" menu, click "internet options" and then click the "accessibility" button ... make sure that the third check box "ignore font sizes specified on web pages" is NOT checked ...

all applications (assumes you're running Windows): right click on your desktop, then click "properties" then click the tab that says "appearance" ... at least in XP, there's a dropdown for "font size" ... make sure "normal" is selected ...

if all else fails, try a reboot ... maybe you'll get lucky ...

btw, if you're running the Firefox browser, just click the minus sign while holding down the control key (i.e. ctrl--) ...

hope this helps ...

[Dem2theMax]

2. Well, I tried everything you suggested, and nothing fixed it.

It's happening everywhere, not just DU. I have XP, using IE and I know it has to do with the scroll button, but I can't remember how to fix it. Someone in this forum has to know. lol. I hope. I can't take looking at the font size like this for much longer. :crazy:

I do appreciate all your suggestions. I wish one had worked!

Anyone else have ideas?

[Longhorn]

3. Sometimes my display driver acts up and resets the pixel settings.

Go to Control Panel/Display/Settings, and then make sure you're set at the 1280x800 level for screen resolution and the "highest (32-bit)" level for color quality (assuming that's the best setting for your monitor.)

I don't know why mine has to be reset occasionally but it is usually related to closing my laptop. I sometimes get an error message saying that my driver malfunctioned.

Hope this helps!

[welshTerrier2]

5. just fyi ...

you can also access the screen resolutions settings by right clicking on the desktop and then choosing the "settings" tab ...

that's a good idea you proposed ... maybe it will do the trick ...

[welshTerrier2]

4. well, if all else fails ...

OK ... when you say "it's happening everywhere", does that include non-browser applications too ??

if it's just IE, you try this ... it's not ideal but it might help until someone else comes up with another idea ...

in IE, go to "view" then "text size" ... choose one of the smaller fonts (i.e. smaller or smallest) ... this probably won't change anything ...

then, go to "tools" and "internet options" ... click the "accessibility" button and check the third check box that says "ignore font sizes specified on web pages" ... then click "OK" twice ...

the "accessibility" option allows you to ignore the font size set by web page developers and specify a size of your own choosing ... not sure if this will help if your scrolling mouse is the source of the problem but it's worth a shot ...

don't forget to uncheck the "accessibility" option when you get things straightened out ... otherwise, many websites might look a bit strange ... most website developers choose a specific font size for a reason ...

[Dem2theMax]

6. OK, I found the 'fix.' Yeah! And I'm gonna share it so when it happens

to others, everyone will know what to do. lol.

It turns out, if you hold down the control key and scroll with the scroll button, the font size will change while you are scrolling.
I had to go to a board where I originally heard about this to find out how to fix it. Such a simple fix and I couldn't remember!
Maybe some computer classes are in order for Dem? ;)

Thanks again to everyone who replied. I really appreciate it. :)

[bvar22]

7. Hey...That's MAX cool.

Something new every day!!!

"Thanks!", he said while holding the Ctrl key down and scrolling up and down.

"This is fun!!"

[NuttyFluffers]

9. yeah, that's the mouse hotkey of ctrl (and) +/-

ctrl and scroll up or down.

that's what i thought. hotkey issue. you get more control using the keyboard hotkeys. i generally like a large font, i can sit farther from the monitor, easier on the eyes...

[Jersey Devil]

11. Whoa! Great feature!

I had no idea! What keys you you use to get fresh coffee?

[Dem2theMax]

15. Fresh coffee? I'm looking for the Champagne key! lol.

;)

[NuttyFluffers]

8. ctrl+(+/-) should generally solve that.

that is: control button held in addition to 'plus or minus' key to increase or decrease font size. most programs allow this quick hotkey feature, sometimes some programs allow mice hotkey movements (which might've caused this).

otherwise we'd have to go into something more complex, and i really don't think that's the issue. if you had it happen so fast, it's most likely a hotkey issue, not an 'altered internal settings' issue.

[Dem2theMax]

10. It was my mouse.

Haven't had much sleep and the fingers get lazy. I know I did it with the mouse and I knew I hit something else but until I got the answer, I didn't realize I had hit the control key.
And the info you just gave me is nice to know. When I'm tired, now I can make the font bigger without screwing everything up. LOL.

Thanks for the information! :)

[NuttyFluffers]

12. : ) yeah, when in doubt check the hotkeys.

also ctrl+z is nice to remember, a lot of programs recognize it as the "undo" function. so sometimes, when you just erased/screwed-up vital files or pages of work, check around to find an "undo" button, if not try ctrl+z. sometimes it's recognized and saves a lot of heartache. just another of those useful hotkeys people forget or never hear about.

[Dem2theMax]

13. I don't suppose you have a cheat sheet of hot keys, do you?

Sounds like they'd come in handy a lot around here. lol.

[welshTerrier2]

14. here you go ...

a page full of keyboard (aka hot key) shortcuts:

http://www.windowsxpforums.com/keyboard_shortcuts.htm

btw, another tip is to use the "alt" key in combination with an underlined "menu" letter ... the underlined "menu" letters are available in many windows programs for example Word and Firefox ... as an example, to drop down the "file" menu, click alt-f ... this works because the "F" in "File" is underlined (in both of the programs mentioned) ... this feature does not appear to be available in IE (at least in my version) until you first depress the "alt" key ... then, the menu underlines become visible ...

and one last tip to help you remember some of the keyboard shortcuts ... many windows programs display the keyboard shortcuts right next to the commands on the various menus ... for example, in IE, if you click on the "Edit" menu item (or type alt-E), you'll see a list of the various "edit" commands alongside their keyboard equivalents ...

so, for example, if you click on "edit", you can see that the keyboard shortcut for copy is "ctrl-C" ... this command is grayed out (i.e. not available) until you highlight some text to be copied ... it's commonly followed by a ctrl-P (paste) to load the text that was copied in the previous step into some other window ... as a test, go to any website, highlight a few lines of text by clicking and dragging your mouse, and then press ctrl-c ... then open up a "message window" on DU and press ctrl-P ... the text you copied from the website should now appear as part of your post ...

hope this helps ...

[Dem2theMax]

16. Bless you welshTerrier2! I used to use hot keys a lot when I worked with

a Mac. But when I moved over to the PC I quit using them for some reason. I think you've just changed that for me. lol.

Gonna have some fun with the cheat sheet and all the other info you've passed on here. Thank you SO very much. I really appreciate this and I'll bet a lot of other people reading this thread appreciate it as well. :)

[welshTerrier2]

17. what kind words ...

thanks very much !!