Thunderbird: Improved font size selection

[daanl]

I often end up with strange font sizing issues when composing an email where part of my email are in a larger font size than others. To change the font of your email, you can only increase or decrease the font size through the designated buttons or by changing the paragraph format altogether.

In my opinion it would be better to just display a size selection dropdown menu, just like pretty much every other application, allowing you to just pick the required font size and apply it to the selected text.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[lmhill]

I have set my default font to Trebuchet MS 12, but still, when composing I see all sorts of sizes, paragraph and body text sizes. Being able to select all my text and change to the above font would be much easier. What I see on my laptop is not necessarily going to be what the reader at the other end sees!

[Laurence]

Before posting here, I once more made sure the settings in my Thunderbird are as stated below, and sent an email to another address of mine to make sure it works as intended. And it did. The font and size I had used in that test email was/is Calibri 12 (pt.).

I cast my vote in favour of "daanl - Strollin' around" suggestion. I think It should have been part of Thunderbird from the get-go. Just my two-cents.

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By the way here is where I had discovered a solution to my problem.

david |Top 10 Contributor

30/8/22 4:35 AM  

Chosen Solution

OK, here goes: 

- leave settings>composition alone. It defaults to 'variable width' and medium font. Do not touch. Changing that forces the font and font size to appear in outgoing message, which you don't want.

- go to tools>settings>general and select your desired font (my examples are calibri, 11 pt).

- click Advanced [button] and notice the dropdown menu at top for language selection [Fonts for]. You want to set preferences for 'Latin' and for 'Other Writing Systems', one of those is likely showing already. Set [all] the fonts as you want them. Be sure to set Monospace font also, as that is really just 'plain text' font choice.

- repeat EXACTLY for the other language. That is, if you set for 'Other Writing Systems', then do the same for 'Latin', these two must match. If fonts seem small, start with a setting of 20 pts and adjust. You have to set BOTH to see how it looks.

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So, using David's above instructions as a guide, in Settings>Composition under the subheading of HTML Style, Font and Size, I first clicked on the Restore Defaults button. 

Next, in Settings> General under the subheading of Language & Appearance (Fonts & Colours), I set my chosen Default font to Calibri and its font Size to 12. (You choose which default font and size you prefer to use.)

I then clicked on the Advanced button next to the font Size (which I had changed to Calibri 12), and using the now showing Fonts & Encodings selection screen, below are a couple of images showing how I have set my  Latin page and Other Writing Systems page:

Latin page

Other Writings Systems page

I hope the above method (hopefully just a temporary workaround) may be of help in the setup of one's Thunderbird, so that the font and size one uses in the Composition window will be the same font and size in the Draft folder, and once sent, also the same font and size in the Sent folder.  And - though it depends, see below - it quite possibly may also be the same font and size to the recipient (the person to whom you are sending the email).

It should be noted that, to the recipient the message you send may look different, regarding the font and/or size. How it looks (font and/or size) depends on whether the email program which the recipient is using is itself set to use a different font and/or size of messages it receives. But no need to sweat about that part because it is outside your control. 😉

Laurence

[fung0]

I'm mainly hoping for formatting that's less prone to wild errors. Often, paragraph spacing changes for no reason - or in a way that makes no sense. At times, while I'm editing a message, I end up in a situation where I simply cannot insert a space - spaces simply disappear and my words run together. Lots more.

But aside from seeing those bugs eradicated, I'd love to see support for proper style sheets, based on standard CSS. Undemanding users should be able to install default 'stationery'. Advanced users should be able to create sophisticated CSS style sheets to get total control over formats.