Simple: Zoom in to see screen details more easily

Mac Accessibility 101

• Series: Simple accessibility hints
• Simple: Enlarging Text
• Simple: Bigger Mouse Pointer
• Simple: Alert Sounds You Can See
• Simple: The Computer Tells You The Time
• Simple: Show Icons in open/save dialag box
• Simple: Zoom in to see screen details more easily
• Simple: Word Completion
• Make iTunes Easier To See and Use
• Simple Keyboard Shortcuts To Save You Time

If you have a MacBook with a trackpad or a mouse with a scroll wheel, there’s a very simple way to zoom in to see something small on the screen.

If you have a MacBook simply hold down the control key and slide two fingers on the trackpad up to zoom in, down to zoom back out again. This will only work on trackpads that recognise two-finger scrolling, anything purchased in 2005 or later should be fine.

If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, hold down the control key and use the scroll wheel to zoom in and zoom out.

If you would like to turn this function off or change the way it works, open System Preferences – it’s the fourth item in the Apple menu (the  shape) in the very top left corner of the screen as shown here:

From System Preferences, select the “Keyboard & Mouse” pane. The relevant options are at the bottom of the “Mouse” section of that pane. You can see here, I’ve modified mine so it uses the command key instead of the control key:

If you want to explore further options for how the zooming behaves, try the “Options…” button just to the right. There’s no need to save the changes – the behaviour changes as you alter your selections so you can try each one out.

- Ricky Buchanan