Zooming is a basic function for browsers, which allows you to enlarge web pages written too small or to make small ones too large. Visually impaired users can use the zoom feature to increase the size of text on all web pages and they can also be increase or decrease the size of individual elements that are too small or too large.
Even for those who have a perfect view, zooming can be useful when visiting a website that is too small or too large, or even simply to better exploit the wide space of a high resolution monitor, to enlarge the text and images above all open web pages.
The zoom features of Chrome and Firefox can be configured in two different ways: on a single web page or on all websites .
In Google Chrome, to control the zoom level of the web page you are viewing, just press the button with three dots at the top right and then press the + and - keys next to the " Font size " options item.
Also in Firefox the zoom can be changed by going to the options menu from the button with three lines at the top right.
The changes take effect immediately so you can immediately see if the magnification level is satisfactory or if you need further adjustments.
These zoom settings only affect the site you are viewing.
In both Chrome and Firefox, zoom can also be controlled via the keyboard, using the combination of CTRL + and CTRL keys - or even by holding down the CTRL keys, mouse wheel upwards to zoom in, downwards to zoom out.
Note that with each zoom change, both in Chrome and Firefox, the magnifying glass icon appears at the top of the address bar with the magnification and decrease percentage written.
The zoom changes for a site remain stored for the future and can be reset as we will see later in this guide.
If you want to change the zoom of Chrome for all the sites and open pages, you can do it by pressing the button of the three dots at the top right and entering the settings.
Scroll down the options page until you find the Zoom page under the Appearance section.
Then change the zoom from the default 100% to another value.
The change is applied to any web page open in Chrome, except for those with custom zoom levels.
Note that in Chrome Settings, just above the zoom option, there is also that of the font size .
You can therefore keep the zoom at the 100% level and change only the font size to see larger or smaller writings .
In Firefox, the general Zoom settings do not exist and only the page-level zoom mode exists.
To set a different zoom level for all sites that open with Firefox, you need to install the NoSquint Plus extension, which adds these options.
Firefox also allows you to change only the text size.
To do this, press the ALT key on the keyboard to bring up the classic Firefox menu and then go to View> Zoom and activate Zoom only for the text.
From now on, the zoom controls enlarge or reduce the size of the text only.
You can also set a minimum level of size for the text of websites in Firefox by pressing the button with three lines at the top right, then on Options> General> Advanced (under section Language and appearance ) and changing the minimum font size .
In Firefox, using the Customize function from the main menu, you can drag the zoom controls so that they are displayed on the button bar at the top right.
Zoom extensions for Google Chrome
Extensions can further expand the zoom options of the Google browser in different ways:
- W Zoom allows you to set a different level of magnification for pages, for sites or for paths.
- Zoom for Google Chrome adds zoom controls on the toolbar and introduces more precise zoom levels, such as 97% or 92%.
- Zoom Page WE allows you to zoom in different ways, even with automatic adaptation.
- EZ Zoom, to zoom in or out by simply pressing the + and - keys
Finally, note that the size of the web pages displayed with Chrome, Firefox or other browsers can also depend on the size set at the system level on Windows.
We have seen in another article how to enlarge text and icons on Windows, which in Windows 10 is done from Settings> System> Display, while in other Windows it is done from the Control Panel> Screen .
