Font size in emails

[Robert Waldrop]

I have poor eyesight, and recently switched to Mozilla Thunderbird.  I can't seem to make any font size settings "stick".  To read an email, I always have to zoom the text, typically two or three times, even though I have it set to display fonts at 16 pt.  When I write an email, and I write a lot of emails to others who also have not-so-good eyesight, I have to manually increase the site of the font, even though I have it set to use larger fonts.  There doesn't seem to be any setting in writing an email to change the font based on point size, just an icon to click to increase the font size.  I've also tried to set the system on numerous occasions to stop asking me if I want to send an email in plain text, html, or both, and that setting never sticks and practically every time I send an email, I have to choose how to send it.

I've read the online documentation and it doesn't seem to refer to what I see.  It refers to a drop down menu for incoming and outgoing email, but I don't seem to have a drop down menu for incoming/outgoing even though I have looked.

Bob

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Monday, September 28, 2009 4:22:02 PM, and on a
whim, Robert Waldrop pounded out on the keyboard:

Hi Bob,

I don't know if you've read this or not, but it seems to spell out what
you are trying to do:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Font_settings_in_Thunderbird

Terry R.
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[Robert Waldrop]

I've read that page, and tried to follow its instructions, but it doesn't seem to be working.  When I got to options-tools-display-font, I can set a font size for propotional, monospace, and minimum font size.  I don't really have any point of reference to know how these numbers in pixils translate into type size, everything I've ever used online up until now relating to font size was in points.  But I had a private email from someone who said theirs is set at 22 which seems to show up as 12 pt type.  If I change those numbers, however, nothing changes.  I look at or create an email, its the same small type.  If I close Thunderbird and re-open it, my change in those settings has gone away and the original numbers (16, 13, and 14, respectively) are back in place. 

So my problem seems to be that changing those numbers doesn't seem to be changing anything, and if I change those numbers to increase them, they reset to their originals when I close and reopen Thunderbird.

I increased the size of the type on this email by clicking on the capital A on the bar above the email. If I don't do that for each email, the type is too small for me to read, even if I squint and get up close. Yes, I have my contact lenses in.

Robert

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> I have poor eyesight, and recently switched to Mozilla Thunderbird. I
> can't seem to make any font size settings "stick".

What do you do for other applications you use?

If seeing your own email is tough, why don't you change the default
*Windows* font sizing larger, to something you are comfortable with.
This way, _all_ applications would be easier to read.

As I recall, right-click on the Desktop, choose Properties, and it's in
there somewhere. (I don't use Windows.)

--
-bts
-Friends don't let friends drive Windows

[Robert Waldrop]

Your thinking of --  control panel - display - appearance.  I have that set to Extra Large Fonts. It works with some websites, others I have to zoom in.  It does increase the size of the fonts for the e.g. names of the folders, the from, to, subject columns in Thunderbird, but has no impact on the text size for composing or reading emails.

Bob

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> Your thinking of -- control panel - display - appearance. I have
> that set to Extra Large Fonts. It works with some websites, others I
> have to zoom in. It does increase the size of the fonts for the e.g.
> names of the folders, the from, to, subject columns in Thunderbird,
> but has no impact on the text size for composing or reading emails.

As a test, I just went to the options
(in Windows, that should be: Tools > Options)
picked the Display section,
selected Formatting
clicked the button under Fonts & Encoding:
Configure the fonts and encodings used by Thunderbird
Button "Fonts"

New dialog opens.
Set all three dropdown selections to 20 pixels (all were 14)
especially the "minimum font size."
clicked OK.

Immediately all mail, both inbox and compose jumped to that size

Closed, and restarted Thunderbird, and the setting of 20 remains. Pick a
larger number than 20 if you need it.

Note I do not write nor read HTML email. This is with Plain Text.

[Robert Waldrop]

Thanks for this test. I did the same thing after reading your email,
there were no changes in font sizes, I exited Thunderbird, opened it
again, went back to display-configure fonts, the 3 options there had
reset to 16, 13, and 14. Do you suppose I need to reinstall
Thunderbird? I'm running Windows XP.

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> Thanks for this test. I did the same thing after reading your email,

[it was a newsgroup post...]

> there were no changes in font sizes, I exited Thunderbird, opened it
> again, went back to display-configure fonts, the 3 options there had
> reset to 16, 13, and 14.

Hopefully, you are clicking the "OK" button rather than just closing the
window after you change the numbers to your larger preference?

If you go back to the dialog *before* closing Thunderbird, are your new
selected numbers still there?

http://tekrider.net/usenet/fonts.gif

As you can tell, I prefer the Courier New font for my email and news...

> Do you suppose I need to reinstall Thunderbird? I'm running Windows
> XP.

I doubt that, though quirkier quirks have been "solved" by reinstalling
Windows software. It's the nature of the beast, I suppose.

You use the same version I do (albeit as mentioned, mine is not the
Windows version).

Maybe someone else has an idea...

[Robert Waldrop]

I had a private email from a list member who suggested that I set the
minimum font size to "none". When I did that, the other pixil settings
"stuck". About half the email in my inbox is now readable without
having to further zoom the text, the others look like mostly html mail
and those need more zooming but hey, half a loaf is better than none.
In creating this email, I did not have to increase the text size (I set
the fonts for 32 pixils).

Thanks to all who engaged in discussion on this topic and helped me
figure out the solution.

Bob in Okie City

>

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> I had a private email from a list member who suggested that I set the
> minimum font size to "none".

Well, I'm glad you got it fixed. That must be some glitch with the
Windows version.

And I wonder why this 'list member' (this is Usenet, by the way) would
not post his suggestion here in public for all to see.

[Ken Whiton]

*-* On Tue, 29 Sep 2009, at 19:55:14 -0400,
*-* In Article <z4KdnQ-H4rP_A1_X...@mozilla.org>,
*-* Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote
*-* About Re: Problem solved was Re: Font size in emails

> Robert Waldrop wrote:
>
>> I had a private email from a list member who suggested that I set
>> the minimum font size to "none".
>
> Well, I'm glad you got it fixed. That must be some glitch with the
> Windows version.
>
> And I wonder why this 'list member'

Robert uses the mailing list rather than posting directly to the
news.mozilla.org server, so to him it is a "list" and e-mail rather
than news.

> (this is Usenet, by the way)

No it isn't. Technically it's a Usenet-style newsgroup which is
only (supposed to be) accessible via Google Groups, the mailing list,
and the news.mozilla.org server, not via general Usenet news servers.
There are a few "rogue" servers that have been known to "pull" from
this server, but that's primarily one-way communication. Very few, if
any, posts from there ever make it back to this server.

> would not post his suggestion here in public for all to see.

Ken Whiton
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