font size

[asabatelli]

This is probably a silly question, but I'm fairly new to the world of
Macs, and I primarily do word processing. It strikes me as a little
odd that I need to zoom to at least 125% to get my 12pt font looking
anything like a 12pt. font on the screen (20 inch imac). Is there some
setting somewhere to have the on screen view be more wysiwyg? If I set
it at 100%, I'd say I'm looking at about an 8pt font on screen.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

This is probably a silly question, but I'm fairly new to the world of
Macs, and I primarily do word processing. It strikes me as a little
odd that I need to zoom to at least 125% to get my 12pt font looking
anything like a 12pt. font on the screen (20 inch imac). Is there some
setting somewhere to have the on screen view be more wysiwyg? If I set
it at 100%, I'd say I'm looking at about an 8pt font on screen.

There is no "absolute" size for 8 pt, 12 pt, etc. on screen. You can always
change your screen resolution in System Preferences/Displays to a "smaller"
pair of numbers, i.e. fewer pixels per inch, which gibes a larger (and
coarser) display. On my large 23" display the default resolution is 1920 x
1200, which packs a huge number of pixels in and lets me display lots more
windows, documents, etc. in fine detail. But it does lead to quite small
print on screen. Since I'm mostly going to end up printing Word documents
sooner or later, a point size of 11 or 12 is what's most appropriate for
printing, so that leads to very small print on screen for me too. That means
that I too like a default zoom of 125% - sometimes I even raise it to 150%.
There's nothing wrong with that. Instead, I _could_ change the screen
resolution to something like 1024 x 768, which is the default on smaller
screens like my former 12" iBook (I can't recall the default on my 15" PB -
I think it's 1600 x 1200, where the point size can also look a bit small).

I think it's great that it's easy to change the zoo so easily in Word. You
can even set the default for new documents to be 125% by changing it to that
in your Normal template (which lives in ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/ in
Office 2004, and in /Applications/Microsoft Office [X]/Templates/ in earlier
versions). It makes more sense to me to set the computer display resolution
to most convenient for detail, the point size in Word correct for printing
and change the zoom for screen display, but you could always change the
screen resolution instead if it suits you better.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

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PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It's not Word, or Macs, but the resolution on your screen, I think. Play
with resolution in System Preferences, Displays.

 

[Elliott Roper]

There is no "absolute" size for 8 pt, 12 pt, etc. on screen.

<snip>
In addition to Paul's advice, here is a trick that is useful in Page
View
Set your document to "Page Width". Then the displayed type size shrinks
and grows as you drag the window width. On this cute little 12"
Powerbook it is an excellent use of its limited screen space.

Not everybody is a fan of page view, since they claim it slows down
screen redraw. I like it, without all the other silly decorations like
scroll bars and rulers and all that word count nonsense to refresh, it
is quick enough for me. For me, page view is the only way to work
without having to take barf breaks to deal with the ugliness. Rail as I
might against Word's feature-itis bloat, I shamefacedly admit I *like*
this little bloatlet.

I liked page view's page width so much I recorded a Macro and assigned
a keystroke combo to it. Paste this into your macro collection if you
like.
It puts you into page view if you are not there already. It is a useful
antidote to cmd-opt-n which plonks you in normal view.

Sub pageWidth()
'
' pageWidth Macro
'
If ActiveWindow.View.SplitSpecial = wdPaneNone Then
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Type = wdPageView
Else
ActiveWindow.View.Type = wdPageView
End If
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.PageFit = wdPageFitBestFit
End Sub

 

[Elliott Roper]

It's not Word, or Macs, but the resolution on your screen, I think. Play
with resolution in System Preferences, Displays.

Asabatelli has a 20" iMac. It is a bad idea to set an LCD to anything
but its native resolution. You take a massive hit in sharpness and
readability. All the sub-pixel antialiasing is thwarted.

Paul's other idea of changing Word's magnification or my rancid page
width idea looks far prettier on those gorgeous 20" iMac displays.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Asabatelli has a 20" iMac. It is a bad idea to set an LCD to anything
but its native resolution. You take a massive hit in sharpness and
readability. All the sub-pixel antialiasing is thwarted.

Well, I figured Asabatelli would figure that out--on noticing he/she didn't
like the other resolutions any better--while also learning a little more
about how the Mac worked, and computers in general.

Paul's other idea of changing Word's magnification or my rancid page
width idea looks far prettier on those gorgeous 20" iMac displays.

Indeed. By the way--I found Zoom in Word X caused unsightly and inaccurate
spacing, at least in Normal View, but this appears to be much better in Word
2004. One small advantage to the screen draw changes, I guess.

 

[asabatelli]

Thanks for all the help. Very informative!

Well, I figured Asabatelli would figure that out--on noticing he/she didn't
like the other resolutions any better--while also learning a little more
about how the Mac worked, and computers in general.

Indeed. By the way--I found Zoom in Word X caused unsightly and inaccurate
spacing, at least in Normal View, but this appears to be much better in Word
2004. One small advantage to the screen draw changes, I guess.

--
Daiya Mitchell, MVP Mac/Word
Word FAQ: http://www.word.mvps.org/
MacWord Tips: <http://www.word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/>
What's an MVP? A volunteer! Read the FAQ: