Help with seeing our websitesprintable version

On this page we explain how you can make the text bigger in your web browser and how to magnify your screen as well as how to change the text and background colour to better suit your needs.

Making text larger
Magnifying your screen
Changing the font
Changing the font colour and background colour
Help with your keyboard

Making text larger

A lot of web pages can be difficult to view because the text is too small to comfortably read.
Choose from the following web browsers for step-by-step instructions on how to increase the size of the text on any web page you are viewing:

Internet Explorer (5.0, 5.5 and 6.0)

1. Open your Internet Explorer browser.
2. Open the ‘View’ menu with the mouse.
3. Click on ‘Text Size’.
4. Choose your preferred text size with the mouse, or use the up and down arrow keys and press 'Enter'.

Firefox (1.0, 1.5)

1. Open your Firefox browser.
2. Open the ‘View’ menu.
3. Click on ‘Text Size’.
4. Click on ‘Increase’. A quicker way to increase the text size is to hold Ctrl (Cmd in Mac OS X) and scroll down with your mouse.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

Magnifying your screen

If increasing the text size via the browser or Windows options does not make text easy to read then the next step is to magnify the screen.

All recent versions of Windows include magnification software which can help some people more easily read text on the screen.

The Windows magnifier lets you increase text to a very large size. It is, however, restricted to a small portion of the screen so most vision impaired people find that they require fully-functional magnification software.

Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me

1. Open the Start menu by clicking on the Start button or by pressing the Windows logo key (located between the Ctrl + Alt keys on most keyboards) alternatively press Ctrl + Esc 
2. Click on Programs or alternatively press P on the keyboard until Programs is highlighted and then press Enter 
3. Click on Accessories or press A on the keyboard until Accessories is highlighted and then press Enter 
4. Click on Accessibility or if you are using the keyboard, it will already be highlighted so just press Enter 
5. Click on Magnifier or press M and when Magnifier is highlighted, press Enter on the keyboard 
6. The magnifier is now turned on and the settings box appears. 
7. You can click in the magnification level box to change the level of magnification, or use the up and down arrow keys 
8. You can minimise the magnifier settings box by clicking the minimise button or by pressing Alt + Spacebar and then press N

Changing the font

Internet Explorer (5.0, 5.5 and 6.0)

1. Open your Internet Explorer browser.
2. Open the ‘Tools’ menu with the mouse.
3. Click on ‘Internet Options’, or press 'O'.
4. Click ‘Accessibility’, or press Alt+E.
5. Check the ‘Ignore font styles specified on Web pages’ checkbox with the mouse or by pressing Alt+S.
6. Click ‘OK’, or press enter.
7. Click ‘Fonts’, or press Alt+N.
8. Select a web page font of your choice with the mouse, or by pressing Alt+W and arrowing through the list.
9. Click 'OK' twice, or press Enter twice.

Firefox (1.0 and 1.5)

1. Click on the ' Tools ' menu with the mouse or press ' Alt ' + ' T '.
2. Click on ' Options', or press ' O ' , to open the ' Options ' dialog box.
3. Make sure that the ' General ' option is selected - if not either click on it or press ' Tab ' until it is highlighted and then press ' Enter '.
4. Click on ' Fonts & Colors ' or press ' F '.
5. Click on the box next to ' proportional: ' and choose your font type - serif or sans serif - or press ' Tab ' until the option box is highlighted, use the arrow keys to expand it and choose your font type and then press ' Enter '.
6. Choose your specific font by clicking on the ' Serif: ' or ' Sans-serif:' drop down menus depending on what font type you selected for ' Proportional ' and scroll down and select the font you want or ' Tab ' into the relevant drop down menu (' Serif: ' or ' Sans-Serif: ') and use the arrow keys to move ' up ' and ' down' the list. Once the font you want is highlighted press ' Enter ' to select it.
7. Click on ' Always use my:' 'Fonts ' checkbox, or press ' Tab ' until the checkbox is highlighted and press the ' Spacebar '.
8. Click ' OK ' or press ' Enter '.
9. Click ' OK ' or tab to ' OK ' button and press ' Enter '.

Changing the font colour and background colour

Some people find certain text and background colour combinations difficult to read, while others prefer to always have a specific colour such as white text on a black background. In either case it is easy to set your own colours.

Internet Explorer (5.0, 5.5 and 6.0)

1. Click on the Tools menu.
2. Click on 'Internet Options', or press 'O'.
3. Click on the 'Colors' button, or press Alt+O.
4. Choose to have your Windows colour scheme reflected by selecting the "Use Windows colors" option with the mouse or by pressing Alt+W
5. Alternatively, select either the Text button with the mouse (or by pressing Alt+T), or the Background button with the mouse (or by pressing Alt+B).
6. Select the colour with the mouse or by using the arrow keys.
7. Click the 'OK' button twice, or press Enter twice.

Firefox (1.0, 1.5)

1. Open the ‘Tools’ menu with the mouse or press Alt+T.
2. Click on ‘Options’ or press 'O'.
3. Select the button 'Fonts & Colours'.
4. Choose to have your Windows colour scheme reflected by ‘Tabbing to the Use System Colors option’ or click on the ‘Text’ or ‘Background color’ option and choose an alternative colour

Help with your keyboard

Often websites are designed without thinking about the needs of non-mouse users, for example people with RSI who can only use an ergonomic keyboard to surf the web.

This section explains the ways you can navigate Shell web pages with just the keyboard and explains how special shortcuts known as access keys can make keyboard navigation much easier.

It is very easy, for example, to open Windows Explorer by holding down the Windows logo key and pressing E.

This is much quicker than clicking on the Start button, then Programs, then Accessories and finally Windows Explorer.

Please note that if you don't have the exact version of a particular browser then some or all of these shortcuts might not function.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x

Netscape Navigator 4.7

For more information and additional keyboard shortcuts for other browsers please visit the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) website.