Adjust User Interface font and icon size

[Jim Smith]

Hi, I've just downloaded and started the WIndows Desktop demo. I'm having trouble reading the menu text and recognising the various icons because they appear very small on my 2560x1440 monitor. Is there any way to customise the UI to increase menu font sizes and buttons etc?

Thanks, Jim

[MEB]

Hi Jim Smith,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
On Windows this can only be done through the OS Display Settings panel (Scale and layout section). Note that changing these settings will affect all apps.

[Jim Smith]

Thanks for quick reply! I'll give that a try.

[FRue]

Icon size on large monitors

The current design of the UI works perfectly for me (in the light mode) on a laptop or tablet. It becomes almost unusable if used on a large high-dpi, that normally sits at a greater eye distance than a laptop screen. The icons become way too small.

The recommended method of scaling down the monitor dpi setting does scale up the UI, but also dumbs down the resolution of the working area.

I aggree, that a total redesign might be a problem, but it should be fairly simple, to introduce an intermediate layer, that does a pixel-doubling (horizontal and vertical) for all parts of the UI. This would be a quick fix of the readability problems for users of larges screen-sizes for people with degraded vision, without a major change of the code-base, that keeps upt the resolution in the working area.

(I know, this problem of application/icon scaling should have been treated by Apple a long time ago) 

Edited May 31, 2022 by FRue
Typo

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, FRue said:

I aggree, that a total redesign might be a problem, but it should be fairly simple, to introduce an intermediate layer, that does a pixel-doubling (horizontal and vertical) for all parts of the UI.

That probably is not as simple as you might think because it means increasing the size of every part of the UI where otherwise there would not be enough space to show the entire UI element without cropping or truncating it. So for example, the entire Tools panel would need to be doubled in width for every number of columns it can be set to use, its height doubled, reducing the number of tools it can show unless a scroll function is added to it; the Toolbars would need to be doubled in height & their capacity to show buttons & such without using the chevron to show the rest of them reduced to accommodate the extra width needed to show any of them; & so on.

[WreathsUnlimited]

The size of the menu text and tool icons is unusable on a 4k or higher resolution display on a Mac.  Scaling the resolution of the monitor down increases the menu text and tool icons, it is true, but you are then working with lower resolution for editing in Affinity Photo and things like resizing and unblurring images suffers.  Plus many monitors only work well at their native resolution, they introduce additional blurriness at non-native resolutions.  We really want to use the Affinity programs, but not at the expense of having to use low resolution monitors.  Is there are any way to address this other than reverting back to Photoshop?

[PaoloT]

2 hours ago, WreathsUnlimited said:

Is there are any way to address this other than reverting back to Photoshop?

I use a Mac with a 27” 4K display, and use SwitchResX to adjust the display resolution at my taste. It works fine.

Paolo

 

[pixelatedvision]

Hi, I am also having this issue, using Affinity on a 4K screen with a Mac the interface is just too small for me to easily use, I joined the forum precisely to find out how the UI interface can be scaled to be usable. I agree with WreathsUnlimited that reducing the resolution of the monitor is not really the answer for this type of program where you want the high resolution for your workspace. This isn't just a generic problem with High def screens but also accessibility for users with visual acuity issues.

[Granddaddy]

Your complaint is nothing new. Serif has so far not responded to several years of complaints about the dysfunctional tiny icons and fonts used in the Affinity apps. You either adjust or use competing products.

Lately there is much excitement in several threads in these forums about Affinity Version 2.0. Perhaps Serif will eventually make their products more user friendly for those with HiDef monitors and/or ageing eyes. It has always puzzled me that I can still use a variety of Windows software designed more than 20 years ago for low-resolution, 12" inch monitors without these Affinity user interface problems, yet Serif is unable to correct their poor, initial design decisions.

See my posts about Windows partial solutions at
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/135052-tool-icon-size—need-to-enlarge/#comment-745313
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/126750-size-of-tools-on-my-screen/#comment-695539
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/135393-scale-panel-to-bigger-size/#comment-748118
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/125603-ui-scaling/#comment-689223
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/125603-ui-scaling/#comment-688935
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/125603-ui-scaling/#comment-688640
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/123596-ui-font-and-icon-size-is-really-very-very-tooooooooooo-~~-small/#comment-676781