Windows' "Make text bigger" accessibility setting affecting UI in Firefox v103

[Kycok]

Make the feature switchable! The new combined scaling of text and UI is horrible!

It was OK in previous versions of Firefox. I have 125% font size in Windows settings. The text was big and UI was normal.

Now the UI just eats 25% more space of the desktop. It's not ergonomic and absolutely useless.

For now, rolling back to v102 and disabling updates.😤

[Kycok]

The workarounds might help partially. Pity, I can't test them as I have rolled back to v102 already.

But honestly, why has the change been made in first place? Didn't they tested it? It's obvious bad design decision!

[jscher2000]

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@Kycok wrote:

The workarounds might help partially. Pity, I can't test them as I have rolled back to v102 already.

But honestly, why has the change been made in first place? Didn't they tested it? It's obvious bad design decision!

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I'm sure the answer to "why" the change was made is out there somewhere, but the question about why this wasn't picked up in testing is more complicated. There are a lot of beta testers, but I suspect they tend to have more standardized setups, and are more self-sufficient (nerdy?) when it comes to finding and implementing about:config changes on Reddit. As a result, some problems that appear to have a low impact during testing turn out to be a bigger issue after release. The standard release user base uses Firefox on a huge range of equipment, from lower resolution laptops to higher-than-HD screens, from basic RGB to finely calibrated displays, and with low-end graphics to state-of-the-art. I don't think the beta test population does or can fully reflect the regular user population, so this is going to keep happening.

In a perfect world, Firefox would have these hidden settings easily controllable from the Settings page, Appearance section. New stuff has been added there this year, which is a start, but there is more that could be done. Maybe it also would be helpful to have a resolution advisor that checks whether the zoom multiplication seems to have gone too far. I don't have a good sense of how that would be done, but maybe if the toolbar height is more than 25% of the screen the enlargement needs to be dialed back.

[HLMSPL]

Hi. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the v102 install exe. I've looked online to no avail. Is it possbible for you to attach yours here? Thanks either way.

[jscher2000]

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@HLMSPL wrote:

Hi. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the v102 install exe. I've looked online to no avail.

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Why, did this fix not work for you?

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/windows-quot-make-text-bigger-quot-accessibility-setting/...

See also: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/install-older-version-firefox

[HLMSPL]

My preference is to roll back. A workaround isn't a fix. It's not a users job to 'fix' bad releases. btw I'm very familiar with about:config. I'm not afraid of it.

[Luanne43]

After reading your and other's posts about fixing the problem through about:config, I got it back to normal.  Now, there's another update to 103.1.  After the last fiasco, I'm leery of updating to it.  Has there been problems with 103.1 that you know of?

[Chaslington]

You shouldn't fear minor updates (when only the decimal part of a version number changes, for example: updating 103.0 to 103.1), only fear the major updates (for example: updating 103.1 to 104.0).

Minor updates are mostly bug fixes.

[ajp1228]

My browser automatically updated to 103.0.1 the other day and there was no change with this setting.  The about:config changes are still working fine.

[Kycok]

I've posted here earlier:

Download Firefox 102.1.0esr from here.

Edit: Push Ctrl+Shift+O to backup/restore bookmarks.

[Radiant_Fractal]

OK, the about:config ui.textScaleFactor = 100 trick worked. Please see that it keeps working in the future releases.

[ajp1228]

I can't find this setting.  Do you have Windows 11?  I have Windows 10; could the about:config settings be different?  I found a setting for font.size.systemFontScale and it's already at 100.

The browser.display.os-zoom-behavior setting someone mentioned above seems to help, but I had to change mine to 2, instead of 0 as he/she recommended, to keep my tabs from being too small to read.

[jscher2000]

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@ajp1228 wrote:

I can't find this setting.  Do you have Windows 11?  I have Windows 10; could the about:config settings be different?

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It's something you need to create from scratch:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste ui.textScaleFactor and pause while the list is filtered

Normally, Firefox will display a bar with Boolean Number String and a plus button. If Firefox displays a row that already has a number value, skip to step 5.

(3) Click the circular button in front of Number and then click the + button to create a new preference.

(4) Firefox should display an editing field, and show a value of 0 -- edit the value to 100 then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

(5) If the current value of ui.textScaleFactor is NOT 100, then double-click the preference to display an editing field, and change the value to 100 then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

Let us know whether that works for you -- fully, partially, or not at all.

[ajp1228]

Ok, thank you.  I think I will try it the way I have it set for now, with the browser.display.os-zoom-behavior set at 2.  My Yahoo mail page looks back to normal.  However, I just looked at Facebook and it's different.  It may be better, though; the latest Facebook UI has always cut off my left menu when I zoomed in enough to make the text of the posts readable.  However, now I can see the text great when zoomed at 90% and I have the menu column on the left, the feed in the middle, and the column on the right that's always been there.  I'm going to try this and see if I like it.  It looks cluttered, but I think it's just because the extra column is back where it belongs.

[ajp1228]

Ok, update:  The browser.display.os-zoom-behavior set at 2 was messing up some of my web pages; text was covering text or graphics with embedded text were not displaying correctly.  So I tried it your way and added ui.textScaleFactor.  Then I changed the setting on the zoom-behavior thing back to 0.  This SEEMS to have put it back to normal.  I will learn more tonight when I am back online.  I wasted too much time earlier trying to figure out how to fix this mess!  Thank you!

[Radiant_Fractal]

Sorry, I saw your comment today. The other person has already answered it. 👍🏻

[sakimimi]

Complete agree. This is terrible, and is the issue I have with other popular browser - firefox was pretty much the only browser that didn't have the issue!

This feature particularly does not work with google drive, which a lot of people use. 

This feature may be helpful to some. But please, please add an option disable it.

[jscher2000]

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@sakimimi wrote:

Complete agree. This is terrible, and is the issue I have with other popular browser - firefox was pretty much the only browser that didn't have the issue!

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Hi, you probably got a notification of a workaround for the excess enlargement but, if not, check https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/windows-quot-make-text-bigger-quot-accessibility-setting/...

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This feature particularly does not work with google drive, which a lot of people use. 

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What happens with Google Drive when the enlargement is too high?

[sakimimi]

I tried a couple of work arounds, and it seems okay now (phew). I set browser.display.os-zoom-behavior as 0 and ui.textScaleFactor as 100.

But without the workaround, the google drive (and gmail and google doc - pretty much all google services) gets too large and I couldn't even scroll left and right to see everything. The menu to the left (and top for google doc) takes up too much space on the screen. These issues were not fixable just by zooming in and out.

[Zero55]

This worked for me.  Actually I set the ui.textScaleFactor as 90 for my 4k TV.

[cgowlv1965]

To whom it may concern,

RE: Customize Toolbar Additions and Mozilla Firefox Update 7/25/22

I, either can not figure out how to accomplish the task of bringing the font size of all the characters in my Customize Toolbar down, including my tabs (when I pin them), Or when you updated the website used on computers, on July 25, 2022, someone decided to have them be tremendously large.

I have a small laptop, and the font size of the icons on my Customize Toolbar are way to large now. They were to large before, but now they take up to much space on my upper part of my computer. I need them smaller. I don't always want to hide the toolbars by using F11. Please fix this glitch'.

I recommend you, IT, put a new feature, for us users to access and use to customize the Customize Toolbar sizes to our preference. FYI: The Menu Bar stayed small and for me at a good size. I want my Customize Toolbar icons to be the same size as my Menu Bar words.

However, if I am not seeing where I am suppose to go, to accomplish this request, please let me know where and what I need to do.

Thank you for your prompt response.

[bigjqhn]

Update to 103.0 needs a fix. Page and text size make all sites difficult to see and navigate. Manually resizing everything is ridiculous.

[loudell]

totally agree....

[AnyNameReally]

The latest update really did a number on my screen. I have a 4K monitor and bad eyesight and i have to use ctrl+wheel to zoom the screen in. After the latest upgrade the window size doesn't seem right.

[Kycok]

The devs ruined the UI scaling in v103. There are a few workarounds thou.

[jscher2000]

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@AnyNameReally wrote:

The latest update really did a number on my screen. I have a 4K monitor and bad eyesight and i have to use ctrl+wheel to zoom the screen in. After the latest upgrade the window size doesn't seem right.

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Most people are complaining that Firefox 103 made stuff too big on their screen. If Firefox 103 made stuff too small on your system, could you post this problem on the Mozilla Support site. They have a team of support volunteers to troubleshoot malfunctions with your currently installed version of Firefox, while this site is focused on idea submissions for future versions of Firefox (looking ahead anywhere from 8 weeks to many months). Here's a link to the new question form (for Windows/Mac/Linux): https://mzl.la/3y1vQUQ

[AnyNameReally]

No friend. It made things bigger, so I had to readjust the zoom, but the fonts on the the bookmark and tabs are way too big now anyways.

[AnyNameReally]

Also, I suspect the problem comes from the windows font adjust, I set mine way bigger than the default coz it's a 30 inch 4K monitor and the windows default values are too small for my eyesight. My guess is previous firefox fonts worked independly than windows ??? Maybe it should stay like it was before the update. Just a suggestion.

[AnyNameReally]

And lastly, I used the about:config and set the zoom factor to 0. The bookmark and tab fonts are too small now... I couldnt find the ui.textScaleFactor options. There are many ui. options but not this one. Whew. Sorry for multiple replies. I just remembered later.

[AnyNameReally]

Ohhhh, I typed ui.textScaleFactor, chose number and set to 100. Now it's back to normal.

[jscher2000]

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@AnyNameReally wrote:

Ohhhh, I typed ui.textScaleFactor, chose number and set to 100. Now it's back to normal.

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Thank you for reporting back and glad you found the specific steps. I know things are hard to find in this group discussion format.

[CeeCee]

Same here... My page was fine tuned due to my eyesight, now the entire page blew up! Last upgrade was a complete disaster. Need a reverse on ( Windows' "Make text bigger" accessibility setting now affects all the UI and content pages, rather than only applying to system font sizes.) Cannot scroll with ease, cannot read a page without scrolling 3 sentences. And No control buttons to fix it.

[jscher2000]

For Windows users (not sure this applies to Linux):

Firefox 103 now applies the Windows "Make text bigger" setting as a zoom multiplier (Release Notes).

You may like the effect that Windows setting has in other programs, and want to keep it. BUT if it's not needed for other programs, you can reset that to 100% to resolve the issue:

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Otherwise, Firefox 103 has 3 interrelated hidden settings that control the overall zoom level and whether it considers information from the system. This one seems to be working for many people to revert the change:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste ui.textScaleFactor and pause while the list is filtered

Normally, Firefox will display a bar with Boolean Number String and a plus button. If Firefox displays a row that already has a number value, skip to step 5.

(3) Click the circular button in front of Number and then click the + button to create a new preference.

(4) Firefox should display an editing field, and show a value of 0 -- edit the value to 100 then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

(5) If the current value of ui.textScaleFactor is NOT 100, then double-click the preference to display an editing field, and change the value to 100 then press Enter or click the blue check mark button to save the change.

Let us know whether that works for you -- fully, partially, or not at all.

[ajp1228]

I do not have a setting for ui.textScaleFactor in my about:config.  Could this be a Windows 11 only setting?  I am using Windows 10.  However, I did find a workaround by changing browser.display.os-zoom-behavior, as suggested by someone above.  He/she suggested changing the setting to 0, but for me that setting made the font on my tabs too small to read.  Using a setting of 2 seems to have helped.

[AnyNameReally]

type about:config > Choose show everything and then type ui.textScaleFactor. Then choose the option number and type the value 100.

[TangoDwn]

Thank you!!! From what I can see now this FIXED IT.

[Luanne43]

Thank you, that worked.  Hugs!

[Luanne43]

Thanks again, it worked 'except' for making the toolbar icons normal size.  They're still very large and take up a lot of space.

[AnyNameReally]

Hmmm, I'm not sure how to fix that, I dont display those icons here,  I use only bookmark bar.

[Luanne43]

This morning, everything is back to HUGE.  Your help yesterday, fixed the problem and I thought great. Now, overnight, it's back to the problem.  I'll try your fix again because it worked.  I'm concerned I'll have to do this every day.  Pathetic bug from FF/Mozilla.  Wondering if it'll ever be fixed. BTW, Gmail, was also set back to huge. Could only see 3 emails at a time and each took up two lines.  Saving changes didn't work on gmail either.

[AnyNameReally]

That's unfortunate. What OS are you using ? Windows 10 ?