Change UI Icon and text size

[Scyth360]

Hey guys, I just started the trial of Affinity Photo 2 and was looking forward to buying an alternative to photoshop. I can't seem to change the icon size or text size.

I can use Affinity Photo if I change the custom scaling on windows everytime I use the program but this is a pain. 

Is there a way around this?

 

 

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Scyth360

There is no way to change the UI font size or UI icon size within the Windows versions of the Affinity applications.

[Scyth360]

Welcome to the forums @Scyth360

Thanks, but unless I can fix this problem, I'm gonna be forced back to photoshop. Its a shame because I can't even really try out the app properly.

I did some googling but it appears although a lot have this problem, there is no fix.

[Granddaddy]

Welcome @Scyth360 

Your question about the UI is now a tale almost as old as time. If you can get past the dysfunctional UI, then APhoto is powerful and multi-featured. I've been using it for about 7 years for a wide variety of photo retouching and construction purposes. I hasten to add I am just an amateur, a hobbyist. During the preceding 20 years or so I used Photoshop Elements and a couple of others. In recent months I've worked more on a different product that has more modern capabilities, but I return to APhoto for some purposes.

For some history about the UI deficiencies, see my posts at 
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/171300-icon-style-in-affinity-photo-v2-more/&do=findComment&comment=1297804

and 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/171300-icon-style-in-affinity-photo-v2-more/&do=findComment&comment=1079973

and 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/171054-accessibility-customising-the-ui-font-size/&do=findComment&comment=1075020

and the links within those.

Note that UI elements that use the system font can be resized using Windows Ease of Access settings. Other elements use fonts, and icons whose sizes are hard-coded into Affinity products. Perhaps Canva will do something about the UI, but I am not expecting any improvements, which is what compelled me to move on to a more modern photo editor.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/180602-ui-generally-too-small-windows-no-scale-option/&do=findComment&comment=1211111

 

[Scyth360]

Thanks for the reply....Affinity Photo would have been perfect, being more lightweight over bloated photoshop.

"In recent months I've worked more on a different product that has more modern capabilities"

Can I ask which one this is?

 

[Granddaddy]

4 hours ago, Scyth360 said:

"In recent months I've worked more on a different product that has more modern capabilities"

Can I ask which one this is?

ON1 Photo Raw 2025.

Not recommending it or anything. There is plenty to dislike about it.

I just like tools, and I started playing with ON1 because of some enticing discounts this past year. While learning more about what is missing from APhoto, I've also come to appreciate more what APhoto does offer. Each program has its strengths and weaknesses.

APhoto's weaknesses get discussed here, in part because of the incredible openness of these free forums. ON1 has nothing like this, and there is a great lack of tutorials for ON1. With APhoto you can get a lot of help for free from some very knowledgeable people who are devoted to helping others. 

I've been surprised at the steep learning curve with ON1 despite my decades of editing experience. It's just a different way of doing things. But, as I said, I like learning new tools, even to the point of reading manuals.

I think APhoto has suffered from Serif's overwhelming interest in desktop publishing at the expense of keeping up with photo editing. Still, I just bought another Affinity Revolution course, indicating I will continue to use APhoto despite my grumbling. 

[BIF]

Add me to the list of people who needs my software choices to support the reconfiguration/resizing of UI text and other elements.

So far for me, this is a show-stopper, and so I will have to keep looking at other solutions.

[Evaluation complete.]

Is anyone able to upload a picture of a 4K screen or similar on macOS, showing just how small the interface looks? I’m evaluating Affinity by working on a larger project to see if it’s feasible, and the UI size will be a major factor. No need for images or documents, just the interface.

I’m facing a potential upgrade of my rather worn-out, high-end monitors to state-of-the-art models, which will be a significant investment, so I need to be sure all my software will keep up.

With recent developments in mind, Affinity seems well past the point where they should have addressed the scaling of the interface, so they must have an upgrade in the pipeline soon for a scalable UI. But I can’t base my setup and workflow on just hope.

[BIF]

1 hour ago, Ingelise said:

Is anyone able to upload a picture of a 4K screen or similar on macOS, showing just how small the interface looks? I’m evaluating Affinity by working on a larger project to see if it’s feasible, and the UI size will be a major factor. No need for images or documents, just the interface.

I’m facing a potential upgrade of my rather worn-out, high-end monitors to state-of-the-art models, which will be a significant investment, so I need to be sure all my software will keep up.

With recent developments in mind, Affinity seems well past the point where they should have addressed the scaling of the interface, so they must have an upgrade in the pipeline soon for a scalable UI. But I can’t base my setup and workflow on just hope.

I don't even have a 4K screen.

Mine is only 2560 X 1440.  This is going to be pretty common for monitors larger than 27".  A 32" screen at 4k would have a resolution of 3840 X 2160, and you'd have to sit about 5 feet away from it.  Plus it would have just raised the price. 

I can't see through your eyes and you can't see through mine, so I say you should check it out for yourself always.  But I would venture a guess that if you're worried about UI text being too small, it probably WILL be too small on a 4K screen.

[Gripsholm Lion]

Here you go, Ingelise. The attachment is from a 4k 21.5" iMac in windowed mode (with the dock visible). The text size is default; there is a large option on MacOS.

 

[Scyth360]

Quote

1 hour ago, BIF said:

I don't even have a 4K screen.

Mine is only 2560 X 1440.  This is going to be pretty common for monitors larger than 27".  A 32" screen at 4k would have a resolution of 3840 X 2160, and you'd have to sit about 5 feet away from it.  Plus it would have just raised the price. 

I can't see through your eyes and you can't see through mine, so I say you should check it out for yourself always.  But I would venture a guess that if you're worried about UI text being too small, it probably WILL be too small on a 4K screen.

 

Just to add to this, I don't have a 4k screen either. I think its the scaling in windows 11 for me. I had no issues on my old computer on windows 10.

Unfortunately I had to give up on Affinity. I couldn't solve the problem. I downloaded Krita and Gimp and was able to change the UI to how I liked so I couldn't even really try the Affinity free trial. Maybe one day, they will solve it.

 

[Evaluation complete.]

1 hour ago, Gripsholm Lion said:

Here you go, Ingelise. The attachment is from a 4k 21.5" iMac in windowed mode (with the dock visible). The text size is default; there is a large option on MacOS.

 

Thank you so much for that. I’ll check out the image on some 4K screens and see how it looks!

[Evaluation complete.]

2 hours ago, BIF said:

I don't even have a 4K screen.

Mine is only 2560 X 1440.  This is going to be pretty common for monitors larger than 27".  A 32" screen at 4k would have a resolution of 3840 X 2160, and you'd have to sit about 5 feet away from it.  Plus it would have just raised the price. 

I can't see through your eyes and you can't see through mine, so I say you should check it out for yourself always.  But I would venture a guess that if you're worried about UI text being too small, it probably WILL be too small on a 4K screen.

I don’t see particularly well or poorly, but I don’t want to strain myself trying to decode user interfaces that are both mentally exhausting and outright frustrating. That doesn’t work for a tool you spend countless hours with throughout the week - around 35 or 40 hours worst case under a regular workload.

One of the biggest benefits of investing in macOS has been the highly readable interface, and although Affinity’s UI is oddly small, as if from a different era, I feel that all my other programs have adapted well or even excellently to the times, offering great scalability. So, Affinity seems to be standing on a burning platform in that regard.

[Granddaddy]

25 years ago I was using Microsoft Office 2000 on a 12" IBM PS/2 monitor without usability problems. Today I am still using that copy of Office 2000 on my 24" HD monitors without problems.

I have never understood why Affinity software is designed to be such a chore to use for so many. It's one reason I warn my friends away from Affinity products. It's why after seven years of struggling with Affinity I finally recognized the compelling reasons for switching to better designed products with more modern capabilities.

[BIF]

4 hours ago, Ingelise said:

I don’t see particularly well or poorly, but I don’t want to strain myself trying to decode user interfaces that are both mentally exhausting and outright frustrating. That doesn’t work for a tool you spend countless hours with throughout the week - around 35 or 40 hours worst case under a regular workload.

One of the biggest benefits of investing in macOS has been the highly readable interface, and although Affinity’s UI is oddly small, as if from a different era, I feel that all my other programs have adapted well or even excellently to the times, offering great scalability. So, Affinity seems to be standing on a burning platform in that regard.

I do have a Mac.  But it's not my primary OS.  Windows is, because that's where all of my stuff is, as well as my 40+ years of experience.  Plus, I have 3 windows machines, 1 Mac, and 1 iPad.

Look, Affinity software is not all that expensive; let's be honest.  But if I have to choose, I'm going to choose the one with the best Windows implementation.  Eventually, I may completely switch over to Mac.  But right now I have neither the time nor the inclination.

As I've said in other posts, Blender can do it.  And I found out so can DigiKam.  On Windows, I mean.  The former with a completely configurable user interface, and the latter with a single font and size parameter in the "Settings".  Sure, Blender and Digikam might have hundreds of people working on each, since they're both open Source.

But they did do it, while so many other Windows softwares have not done it.

I don't want to keep beating this topic into the ground, especially since I'm looking at other photo software trials right now.

But man oh man.  In a perfect world, my selection maybe could have been a lot faster.

[BIF]

3 hours ago, Granddaddy said:

25 years ago I was using Microsoft Office 2000 on a 12" IBM PS/2 monitor without usability problems. Today I am still using that copy of Office 2000 on my 24" HD monitors without problems.

I have never understood why Affinity software is designed to be such a chore to use for so many. It's one reason I warn my friends away from Affinity products. It's why after seven years of struggling with Affinity I finally recognized the compelling reasons for switching to better designed products with more modern capabilities.

Thank you for your forthrightness.

[alanGmedia]

I'll add my voice asking for the UI fonts to work with the OS text size settings. It is currently far too small so I have to use a screen magnifier to see what it says, and I am not supposed to have bad vision according to my optician! I've been using Affinity since v1 but this just never seems to get addressed. Presumably, the devs are all under 40 years old with perfect eyesight!

[GarryP]

44 minutes ago, alanGmedia said:

I'll add my voice asking for the UI fonts to work with the OS text size settings.

There’s not much point in ‘adding your voice’ to a thread in the Questions section of the forum as the threads here are just for discussion rather than requesting something.

I would suggest ‘adding your voice’ to a thread in the Feature Requests section or Bugs section instead, maybe one of those linked early in the thread.

[Bob Hassinger]

This issue has been keeping me from going with Affinity too - for several years.  It seems to be a concern to a lot of people, and I have to think the work to fix it is likely to be pretty small compared to development of serious features and functions.

[manne35]

Hi, i would like to buy affinity, but for me the UI texts are too small.

And , i am 55 years old, so i use varifocal glasses, so it s not possible to switch from looking up to looking down all the time,

so i wanted to move the context toolbar down, like in PSE? Is this possible?

Or is affinity made for young people only, maybe from 9 to 44 years ? And i you reach 44 you have to change to PS ?... ;-)

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @manne35

49 minutes ago, manne35 said:

i wanted to move the context toolbar down, like in PSE? Is this possible?

It’s not possible to change the position of the main Toolbar, or the Context Toolbar, within the application window.

[manne35]

thanks for information

regards manne