Tool Icon Size—Need to Enlarge

[ABHULtheELF]

Where are the controls to enlarge my tools icon sizes? I can't find it anywhere, and because I am a Senior (older) person, the tool icons are so small they are difficult for me to read and understand. I have attached an image of the tools I am talking about.

 

[MEB]

Hi ABHULtheELF,
There's no way to change the icon's size in the app, sorry. Feel free to create a new thread thread in the Suggestions & Features Requests section if there isn't one already.

[ABHULtheELF]

Thanks for the quick reply, MEB, I really appreciate it. No ability to change icon size is a real bummer. When I asked a tech-savvy friend of mine, "Why are computer and phone things getting so small?" he replied, "Because they are all being built by young people who don't have the same issues older people have. And unfortunately, by the time these young techies become Seniors, you and I will be gone already." So true!

[Pšenda]

3 hours ago, ABHULtheELF said:

Where are the controls to enlarge my tools icon sizes?

Try change OS scaling.

 

[MEB]

The OS scaling option changes the size of all app's icons/text (or alternatively use a lower screen resolution). It helps if the OP doesn't ming the global change.

[Granddaddy]

Users have been requesting fixes for the tiny icons and fonts for many years. Despite the user interface deficiencies, I bought APhoto about 3-1/2 years ago because I thought that Affinity's emphasis on non-destructive editing was the "right" model. After a time I memorized locations of the icons and rearranged them to my liking so their tiny size became less problematic. Obviously that depends on the state of your vision, quality of your monitor, and ambient room lighting. Affinity's competitors do not have these particular UI deficiencies, but they do suffer from other deficiencies. As a result, I use APhoto almost exclusively for my hobby work despite my aging eyes. Improvements in Windows 10 helped me overcome Affinity's tiny text. The tiny icons remain a problem. As my late mother often said, "What can you do? You just have to put up with it I guess." Obviously the majority of photo editing enthusiasts choose not to put up with Affinity's deficiencies and lacks. Most people have not heard of Affinity Photo. It often gets no mention in reviews of photo editors. Of course I disregard those reviews because I find reviewers have criteria and priorities different from mine. 

@ABHULtheELF, you may find some benefit reading the following discussions about icon size, text size, and types of scaling available in Windows.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/125603-ui-scaling/

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/123596-ui-font-and-icon-size-is-really-very-very-tooooooooooo-~~-small/

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/116061-fon-size-in-the-gui/

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/74923-changing-affinity-photo-user-interface-font-size-in-windows-10/

We have learned to expect that APhoto will remain pretty much as it is given that so many UI features and bugs (like the very annoying white outline that appears around photos at different zoom levels) have been left standing for several years through several "major updates." Perhaps as the workers at Serif age into trifocals and/or cataracts they will see the benefits of making the UI more usable. Perhaps they will even make it consistent as regards indications for what buttons and tabs are selected or not selected.

 

[Roqoco]

The problem isn’t just eyesight it is that what looks the right size at 1080p looks way too small at 1440p and above.

[ABHULtheELF]

I am on a MAC running Big Sur using a 27" Apple Display. I am not on a PC. So your suggestions do not help me, because I cannot find a Control Panel or Preference Panel to change sizes. Is there anyone out there that has this problem fixed on a MAC?

[MEB]

Hi @ABHULtheELF,
If you have the Display in macOS Preferences set to Default for display, you are already seeing the icons at their biggest size. There's no other options other than the ones provided in the Accessibility section which do not help much here.

[ABHULtheELF]

How much trouble would it be for Affinity developers to put a size (increase or decrease) option in their apps? I love Affinity apps, especially compared to the highway robbery payment options Adobe charges. And since I am semi-retired now, I can no longer afford Adobe anyway. But I still have a few clients that require graphics apps for their projects, and with the small icon sizes it takes me a lot longer to complete jobs now. Please Affinity!—add an icon enlargement option!

[ABHULtheELF]

Thanks, MEB. Yes, my display is set to Default.

I am wondering—does anyone from Affinity actually read these forums? If so, I would really like to hear from one about the future of fixing my issue.

[Roqoco]

29 minutes ago, ABHULtheELF said:

Thanks, MEB. Yes, my display is set to Default.

I am wondering—does anyone from Affinity actually read these forums? If so, I would really like to hear from one about the future of fixing my issue.

I think MEB is from serif.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Roqoco said:

I think MEB is from serif.

MEB is indeed from Serif. That is what the black Staff badge below his avatar indicates.

[Alfred]

12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

the black Staff badge

<pedantry>



</pedantry>

[R2B]

I have this problem too, when I use a 4K monitor. MacOS does not have a global adjustment for this.

The tool icons are fixed size in terms of screen pixels.

So, if one uses a large screen with high pixel pitch so as to be able to see the details on a full page of a document without zooming in, the tool icons are correspondingly small.

I have set Preferences-> User Interface->Font UI Size to Large, which helps make the text items more visible on a large screen.

It would be nice to have a similar control for the tool icons. 2X enlargement would be good for a 4K screen.

[duderonomy]

 

It would be nice for the tool icons in left side to be adjusted, slightly. 

Creators and product manager of Affinity could show user empathy with regard to this issue when their product is being used on 1440p and larger. Make it user-configurable, please. 

The graphic designers who made the icons probably know that nobody can really see their work because a number of users cannot really see the icons clearly.

Here they are:

      

 

I memorize the relative position and a vague out-of-focus image of the icon.

I use a humane pixel size; 1440p display at 27-inch. That is, it's not small like what could happen with 2160p with 32-inch screen size. That's some small pixels. Those user's of affinity may be struggling even more. 

Also... You don't need to be old to not have perfect eyesight. 🙂

Thanks for reading, Affinity developers. 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by duderonomy

[thunderbold 27 inch]

I keep being frustrated by the fact that I cannot use Affinity on my 27" thunderbolt display ( max res. 2560 X 1440) because of the tiny icons.

 

My current improvised solution is to set the thunderbolt resolutionMac system preferences/display) to 2048 x 1152 to make a workable until Serif find a way to solve this issue that many MAC users have when using affinity on larger displays to bring out the best of their photos.

[Guest]

While larger, scalable icons might help, I think the bigger problem is that the icons themselves are really cryptic. I've seen smaller icons be far more 'readable' and memorable in other apps. As it stands I always have to mouse over the toolbar icons to see the tooltip and remind myself what they do—and don't even get me started on the icons in the iPad apps as I still generally have no idea what many of them do (particularly on that awkward toolbar at the bottom of the screen).

Whenever I look at the 'wine glass' I always think of a symmetry tool, and constantly confuse the pencil and paintbrush tools in Designer. I often end up confusing the gradient/fill tool for the eyedropper tool as it looks like a pipette and a colour well. Why is the fill tool in both Designer and Publisher the gradient tool in Photo—and why is the fill tool in Photo a bucket?

I think part of the problem is that the full colour icons all start to look the same as multiple colours are repeated in many of the icons, with shading and highlights. Setting the icon app preference to monochrome doesn't do much to improve this as now they are all just grayscale versions of the same muddied icons. Providing crisper, simpler, more distinct shapes using a palette of no more than 3-4 colours would help a lot (scalable SVGs would allow for resizable icons that remain crips) . Also having the same tool icons be in similar places on the various app toolbars would help to reinforce their functionality. For instance, the 'hand' (view tool) always being at the bottom above the magnifying glass (zoom tool), or the text tool always being located in the same place, and always having a toggle between frame and artistic text objects. As it stands I find I'm always having to hunt to remember where all the same tools are located in each of the applications.

Consistency and clarity (including legibility) are essential to a good user experience. 

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Also having the same tool icons be in similar places on the various app toolbars would help to reinforce their functionality.

Menu View\Customise Tools... and of course View\Customize Toolbar...

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Menu View\Customise Tools... and of course View\Customize Toolbar...

You know (after 7+ years using these tools), I NEVER knew those options existed as they are not accessed in the way that toolbar customization options are normally accessed on macOS (i.e.: via ctrl + click/right-click). Also, having the applications start with consistent defaults would be more user friendly than requiring users to customize the tools/toolbars for a consistent user-experience.

Customization is great, but it shouldn't be the default over consistency.

[R C-R]

28 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

You know (after 7+ years using these tools), I NEVER knew those options existed as they are not accessed in the way that toolbar customization options are normally accessed on macOS (i.e.: via ctrl + click/right-click).

Actually, for the Toolbar customizations, on Macs you can just right click on an empty space in that toolbar, which will pop up this menu:

It is just like, for example, what you get in Safari, but with the extra options in addition to Customize Toolbar...

[Guest]

Ahh… I was clicking that big blank/context area just below the active area on the toolbar. I do see it now when I hover over an icon and right-click.

Thank you!

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Ahh… I was clicking that big blank/context area just below the active area on the toolbar.

I think you mean the Context Toolbar. The items in that toolbar change depending on what tool is selected (thus the name). It will be totally empty if there is no document open to provide a context for any tool.

[lforbes]

I bought Affinity V1 on the iPad Pro and for my Laptop last week only to find out that they have now discontinued V1 and forcing everyone to pay for V2. The Icons are 6pt size on the iPad and 8pt Size on the laptop and grey on grey and IMPOSSIBLE to see.

If I had known that you couldn't resize the icons and they were REFUSING to fix this, despite it being an accessibility issue so you are discriminating against anyone who wears glasses, I would not have bought this software.

[MEB]

Hi @lforbes,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Unfortunately it's not possible to change the size of the icons in v2 (other than using the controls provided by the OS to increase the scale of the interface), sorry. Regarding your laptop, are the icons set to Mono (the buttons right above the "Tooltip delay") slider in Affinity Preferences, User Interface section? If so set them to Colour. There's also two new controls/sliders there (Text contrast and UI Brightness) that let you fine tune the contrast a bit.

On iPad, the only way to increase the size of icons/whole interface is through the iPadOS system settings: select Display & Brightness on the left column, go to the Display Zoom section on the bottom on the right column, tap "View"  and select Larger Text from the pop-up. Note this will affect all apps.
There's currently a couple bugs when using grids in Affinity apps in that Display Zoom mode (Larger Text)  but they should be fixed in the next patch. Hope this helps a bit.