Customize Font Size and Window Layout

[ulim]

Is it possible to make (for me) important fields larger (so they don't overflow) and the font size bigger, while losing some less important fields? I have included a screenshot that shows some of the things I would like to adjust.

[fabrizio.giudici]

I definitely second this request (I was going to post about that). With hi-dpi displays at higher resolutions (which of course are very useful for working on images) fonts are way too small. I hoped that macOS Sonoma fixed this with a global settings, but I see it doesn't affect automatically applications.

[Hert]

Psu uses the os settings. To get larger fonts, up the text size in macOS display settings.
FYI, that doesn’t impact image displaying. Images are always displayed at the monitor’s native resolution…hi-dpi

[fabrizio.giudici]

If you're referring to the option of macOS versions prior to Sonoma that concerned the text size (as explained here), it changed the overall resolution of the screen. PSU surely uses the max dpi available, but the operating system has already reduced it.

In any case that option is no more available in Sonoma — or, better, it has been redesigned and correctly called as “display resolution”.

Sonoma has a new setting for changing text size without affecting resolution, but it doesn't work for any application other than the system ones enumerated in the panel (see below). Actually I have to resize fonts in each application that allows to do that (e.g. Firefox, Thuderbird, IntelliJ Idea...).

Screenshot 2024-05-28 at 14.21.47.jpg (128.46 KiB) Viewed 5431 times

Screenshot 2024-05-28 at 14.22.27.jpg (129.78 KiB) Viewed 5431 times

[Hert]

This is what I'm referring to in macOS Sonoma 14.5

SonomaDisplay.jpg (247.79 KiB) Viewed 5423 times

By adjusting the scaling in the OS, that does not impact image quality, only fonts and UI components. That is how scaling works. You don't need to configure macOS (or Windows for that matter) to use no scaling to utilise the native resolution of your monitor to display images. Images are always displayed at full resolution capability, regardless the scaling setting. Scaling is for your convenience.

[fabrizio.giudici]

By adjusting the scaling in the OS, that does not impact image quality, only fonts and UI components. That is how scaling works.

No, it is not. It's also clear from the Displays settings too: if you go to “Advanced" and enable the option "Show resolutions as list", what it's labeled as "Larger text... More space" is shown as a list of resolutions.
To further prove it, I've set "Larger text", taken a screenshot, set "More space" and taken another screenshot. As you can see, the resulting images have different resolution. Clearly the physical resolution of the monitor can't change, but the pixels are interpolated.

Code: Select all

mistral:~/Desktop> exiftool "Screenshot 2024-06-22 at 20.27.57.png" | grep -i size
File Size                       : 2.2 MiB
Image Size                      : 4096x2560
mistral:~/Desktop> exiftool "Screenshot 2024-06-22 at 20.28.09.png" | grep -i size
File Size                       : 807 KiB
Image Size                      : 2304x1440

[fabrizio.giudici]

The topic is described on a number of macOS users' forums. This exchange on Reddit is probably the most clear about it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments ... _settings/

[Hert]

When you set your display to "More Space" in your computer’s settings, everything on the screen, like menus and buttons, looks smaller, so you have more room to work. But this doesn’t change the actual quality or resolution of your images. Apps like Photo Supreme, Photos, or Lightroom always show your images using the full resolution of your monitor.

If you choose "Larger Text" instead, things look bigger and take up more space, but your images still look exactly the same as they do in "More Space" mode.
Many people think the operating system (OS) changes the resolution of images when scaling is used, but that’s not true. If you're using a 4K or 5K monitor, your images are still shown in full 4K or 5K quality, no matter what scaling setting you choose.

FWIW; this applies to Windows as well as macOS.

Try this:
1. Close PSU
2. Set macOS to Large Text
3. Start PSU
4. Open an image in the Viewer
5. View at 100%
6. Make a screenshot
7. Close PSU
8. Set macOS to More Space
9. Repeat 3, 4, 5, and 6

Here are the results to support what I'm saying.
(save the screenshot to disk to see the original as the forum software displays the images to fit the board)

The screenshot with Large Text, image at 100% view, meaning 1:1:

LargeText_100.jpg (627.95 KiB) Viewed 5073 times

The screenshot with More Space, image again at 100%, 1:1

MoreSpace_100.jpg (1.6 MiB) Viewed 5073 times

And here both screenshots are overlayed.

MoreSpace_100_LargeText_100_Overlay.jpg (1.54 MiB) Viewed 5073 times

As the screenshots show, the image is always displayed at the monitor’s full, native resolution, no matter which scaling option you use. If you choose "Large Text," you’ll see less content on screen, but the image itself is not scaled or blurred.

What is scaled are the user interface (UI) elements: things like menus, buttons, and text. Because higher-resolution monitors have more pixels, these elements appear sharper and cleaner when scaled properly.

In summary: changing the display scaling in your operating system (like using the "Default" setting on macOS) gives you a more comfortable and sharper UI, without affecting the quality of your images. They still take full advantage of your monitor’s resolution.

This is exactly what made Apple’s Retina displays so striking when they first came out. macOS used a fixed 2x scaling method, which made everything on screen look noticeably sharper and more refined, without compromising image detail.

[edit Hert: changed the wording without changing the content]