While I know many grandparents who can’t read the screen using the default Windows font size, I happen to like it, and get annoyed at how massive the default Ubuntu font size is. Luckily, the fix is but a few clicks away!
Start by looking in System -> Preferences -> Appearance. In here you can find many display-related settings. Head over to the Fonts tab, and then click Details..
At the top of the Font Rendering Details dialog, you can see a Resolution setting. Cut this down a bit: I recommend 80 dpi.
Now, this may be enough for you, but I have found this has an unwanted side effect: font sizes for some web pages viewed in Firefox become too small! I have no idea why this happens, but to fix it, open Firefox, and in the address bar, type in about:config. This is the place to go for hundreds of hidden Firefox settings. In the Filter box, type in dpi. You should see one setting appear: layout.css.dpi:
Change this setting from -1 to 0 and restart Firefox. Hey presto, font sizes are back to normal!
~ub
Tags: fonts
