Larger font sizes in AOL Desktop
Posted Aug 20th 2008 2:14PM by Laura Peterson
A recent comment about small fonts in AOL Desktop prompted me to explain how to increase the size of your fonts in your Windows Operating System. AOL Desktop will recognize your preferred OS font size so that text throughout the program will be larger. (To increase your browser font size, which is handled separately, go to the Tools menu in the AOL Desktop browser, choose "Power Browsing" and go to "Page Display".)
To set the font size in your Operating System (warning: this will apply to all your other applications, not just AOL), go to your Display Properties in Windows XP / Personalization Settings in Windows Vista.
On XP, you can right-click on your PC desktop background and choose "Properties", then select the "Appearance" tab". Look for the "Font Size" menu at the bottom, and choose the dropdown for your preferred font size (e.g. normal, large, and extra large).
In the screenshot below, you'll see the steps I just described below. I'm running "Large Fonts" so you can see how it impacts my window chrome text and menus.
AOL Desktop handles the OS font size changes reasonably well. I haven't seen anything that is made unreadable by the larger fonts. The new sizes will apply consistently throughout the AOL program (e.g. your toolbar, the quick access panels, the buddy list and screennames, and mail).
Here are some screenshot details of the QAPs, AIM and Mail with Address Book to show you how large fonts look in AOL Desktop.
For further reference, visit the Microsoft help pages for detailed descriptions of changing font sizes on Windows XP and Windows Vista.
** Update 8/22: To increase your font size on AOL 9.0 and 9.1, go to "Settings" from your toolbar, then choose "Font and Text". Here's a screenshot.
Cheers,
Laura
____
Laura Peterson
Product Lead, AOL Desktop
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1. i cannot increaes the font size on aol version 9.1 or aol VR. I suspect what you said about POWER BROWSING only applies to AOL desktop. So how can increase font size on AOL VR?
Posted at 11:23PM on Aug 21st 2008 by Nospam
2. Hi NoSpam,
I just updated the article to show you how to access your Font and Text settings on AOL 9.0 and 9.1. However, I found that these older versions do not apply bigger fonts throughout the application as consistently as AOL Desktop did. Let me know how it goes for you.
Thanks,
Laura
Posted at 11:54AM on Aug 22nd 2008 by Laura Peterson
3. Hi Laura,
THANKS, very helpful. I downloaded AOL desktop and it is working great. I like AOL Desktop very much.
Just one question about increase the font size for AOL Desktop. I did what you said, ie: go to TOOLS / POWER BROWSING / PAGE DISPLAY / ZOOM IN.
It does increase the font size, the only problem is that it does NOT stay that way. As soon as I navigate to another page on the browser or in the email program, the screen automatically reverts back to the old small font again. So every time I navigate to another page, I have to go through the whole exercise of TOOLS / POWER BROWSING / PAGE DISPLAY / ZOOM IN over and over again.
Did I do something wrong? Is there a way to set that larger font size as the default?
Thanks in advance.
Posted at 1:13AM on Aug 23rd 2008 by Nospam
4. Hi Laura
I am using Windows Vista right now.
The TOOLS / POWER BROWSING option is available on the WEB browsing tab, but it is not available to EMAIL tab. can you help?
The email is actually extremely small, you know when you go to your MAIL INBOX where you see a list of all the emails ? that page shows extremely small fonts regardless of what I do.
I tried changing the DPI and other configurations on Windows Vista, it did not help at all.
Do you have any suggestions? If you have an email address, I can email you a screenshot.
Thanks
Posted at 1:14AM on Aug 23rd 2008 by nospam
5. I downloaded AOL Desktop and found that I prefer AOL 9.1. How do I delete AOL Desktop and keep AOL 9.1 with all my preferences, stored emails, etc? When trying to delete software through the Windows XP route, it only lists previous versions for deletion, not AOL Desktop.
Also, prior to downloading AOL Desktop, my AOL home page changed to what appears to be a reduced resolution. The page is blown up and no longer fits in the window. The print is larger and some lines overlap each other; and the pictures are jagged and blurred. None of my other applications are that way. I've checked my display settings in Windows and they are all set to the highest resolution settings. Is there a way within AOL to fix this? I'm not sure what changed it in the first place.
Thank You,
Michael Portele
Posted at 8:32PM on Aug 23rd 2008 by maportele
6. Hi Michael,
AOL 9.1 hasn't been uninstalled -- you can access it through the AOL folder in your program files of your Windows "Start" menu. This older blog post has some further information:
http://desktopblog.aol.com/2008/01/14/how-do-i-go-back-to-using-9-0-or-9-1-after-installing-desktop/
As for the AOL.com issue, it sounds like your browser is zooming in. A simple way to test this is to hold down the "Control" key on your keyboard, then, while holding down "Control", press the "minus" button once or twice to see if the page reduces in size back to normal. (Holding CTRL and "plus" will go the opposite way and zoom you in to the page.)
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Laura
Posted at 9:41PM on Aug 23rd 2008 by Laura Peterson
7. I only wish ONE simple thing when it comes to using AOL. I wish AOL's "windows" (within AOL itself) be that either "AOL Desktop", 9.0 or whatever to simply run the same as ANY normal "Windows"- WINDOWS run! I mean, I'd like to hit my custom close button (on my Logitech programmable mouse) and have it just close the window within AOL which is being highlighted, INSTEAD OF CLOSING MY ENTIRE AOL APPLICATION! Is that so hard for them to do? To make AOL work just like the rest of my Operating System works and runs? Why cant AOL figure out such a simple thing?
Posted at 1:46AM on Oct 10th 2008 by SirJiminyCricket
8. JiminyCricket, I imagine your Logitech shortcut only works for windows that take up a single instance in your OS, e.g. one task bar entry per window. The entire AOL program only takes up one task bar entry as well, and its windows, though separate, are still only "child" windows of the "parent" window application.
Thanks,
Laura
Posted at 10:08AM on Sep 10th 2008 by Laura Peterson
9. AOL changed something. I went to the settings page to I could adjust the font & text size ( and keep it that way ) but, the settings page doesn't list all the setting any more. How do I change the font and text ? Thanks for your help....
Posted at 11:15AM on Sep 13th 2008 by Bobby
10. I am having font and text problems... I can't change my font or text cause only A,B,C,L,M,P,R,S and T are showing... What happened to the rest of the letters and I can I change my font, text and keep it that way? Please help me!
Peter
Posted at 11:24AM on Sep 29th 2008 by TheMagicMan28
11. Aol fonts are no longer in the settings. Where do I go to change them now?
Posted at 3:33PM on Nov 3rd 2008 by Tami