Customize Firefox 3 Zooming

By Ricky Buchanan • August 13, 2008

Firefox version 3 has been released for a while now, so a lot of users are exploring its possibilities. One of the great accessibility-related things new to Firefox 3 is full page zoom, where zooming in enlarges not just the text but also the images and the whole layout of the page - so it’s more like magnifying the page than just enlarging the text.

As somebody with low vision, this is a great help at times but I have been frustrated that using the keyboard command-plus method I could only zoom in to a certain extent and then no further. If I held down the command key and used the scroll wheel zooming the page would zoom in much further, but the keyboard commands are more convenient for me to use.

Yesterday I finally discovered a solution to this dilemma! The Mozilla Links magazine has an article on how to tweak Firefox 3 full page zoom and I was able to use their technique to change the maximum keyboard zooming level to 30 times bigger than normal, quite big enough for my worst eyesight days.

The instructions in the linked article are a little technical in places, but they’re fairly clear. If you have any problems then let me know; if there’s a need, I can make a tutorial which takes you through it step by step with screen shots.

Website: Tweak Firefox 3 full page zoom - Mozilla Links

- Ricky Buchanan, ATMac

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Categories: Geek, Neurologically Impaired, New Software, Supporters, Users, Vision Impaired, Windows Users
Tags: apple, bigger print, enlarge text, firefox, large print, mac, magnify, os x, zoom in, zoom text

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

2 Comments For “Customize Firefox 3 Zooming”

Mike Macgirvin Aug 17th, 2008 at 8:49 am

Extremely useful info for those of us with aging eyeballs. Thanks.
Ricky Buchanan Aug 17th, 2008 at 10:20 pm

@Mike: Always glad to help aging eyeballs!

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