In Internet Explorer or Firefox, how can I control font size?

On this page:

• Adjust the browser
  • Internet Explorer
  • Firefox
• Force the browser to use the system font
  • Internet Explorer
  • Windows XP
  • Windows 2000
  • Firefox

You have two options for adjusting the size of your browser's fonts. You can either adjust the default font size in the browser itself, or force the browser to use your default system font size and adjust your system font.

Adjust the browser font

The simpler solution is to adjust your browser font size directly.

Internet Explorer

1. From the View menu, select Text Size.
   
   
2. From the drop-down menu, select the desired size (from Largest to Smallest).

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Firefox

From the View menu, select Text Size, and then click Increase or Decrease. Repeat until fonts are the desired size.

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Force the browser to use the system font

The other solution is to make your browser use the system default font, overriding the font size specified in the web page.

Internet Explorer

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options.
   
   
2. At the bottom right, click the Accessibility... button.
   
   
3. In the Accessibility window, click to check Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages.

Now you can change the size of your system default font, which will change your browser font size, by following the directions for your operating system:

Windows XP

1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.
   
   
2. In the Display Properties window, click the Settings tab, and then click the Advanced button.
   
   
3. On the General tab, select Normal size (96DPI) or Large Size (120DPI). Click OK.
   
   Note: To customize your fonts, select Custom Setting... . Next to "Scale fonts to be XXX% of normal size", from the drop-down menu, select the percentage difference you want, or slide the ruler to select the percentage. Click OK.

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Windows 2000

1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.
   
   
2. In the Display Properties window, click the Settings tab, and then click the Advanced button.
   
   
3. On the General tab, select Small Fonts or Large Fonts, and click OK.
   
   Note: To customize your fonts, click Other. Next to "Scale fonts to be XXX% of normal size", type the percentage difference you want, or slide the ruler to select the percentage. Click OK.

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Firefox

1. For Firefox 1.5 and higher for Windows, click Tools, then select Options....
   
   
2. Click the Content icon.
   
   
3. From within the Fonts & Colors section, click Advanced... .
   
   
4. Set the fonts you want the browser to use, and uncheck Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above. Then click OK.

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Also see:

• How can I view a web page that my browser has difficulty displaying?
• On a web page, what do the icons that appear in the place of images mean?
• What is a browser, and what browsers are available?
• In Internet Explorer for Windows, what can I do if the buttons and toolbars are missing?