The font size of the displays in Norton Internet Security 2011 is too small for my aged eyes to read comfortably. Please advise how I can increase it to legible size. I realize that most other internet security programs use similarly small fonts, but that only shows they are designed by young people with sharp eyesight, and it does not make the displays any more legible for older people, even with strong reading glasses. Thank you in advance for your help. Peter Aleff
Thank you, guru mdturner, for your answer although I don't like its contents. Could you please explain to the program designers that larger fonts cost no more than their sub-microscopic displays, and that they exclude a large percentage of their potential customers if they insist on making their displays so hard to read. Have they ever heard of usability and readability studies?
The font size of the displays in Norton Internet Security 2011 is too small for my aged eyes to read comfortably. Please advise how I can increase it to legible size. I realize that most other internet security programs use similarly small fonts, but that only shows they are designed by young people with sharp eyesight, and it does not make the displays any more legible for older people, even with strong reading glasses. Thank you in advance for your help. Peter Aleff
Hello peteraleff
I think that is a good idea and it is something which you could enter into the New Product Ideas section. You could enter that suggestion there or I could do it as I am one of those senior citizens who could benefit from that suggestion also. I'm sure that it wouldn't just apply to senior citizens but to anyone who has any vision problems at any age that is allowed to use the program.
Please let me know if you are going to post it there, otherwise I will post it there. Thanks for bringing up an idea which I for one thinks it would be a good idea. Even in Windows, you can zoom up the size of the page or increase the size of the icons and the font size.
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Product-Ideas/idb-p/NIS_Suggestions
peteraleff wrote:Thank you, guru mdturner, for your answer although I don't like its contents.
Hi peteraleff
My apologies. It was my intention to try to assist with workable solution given that there is not one in the product. It was not my intention to upset/annoy you.
Thank you, fellow traveler floplot guru, for supporting my suggestion to use legible fonts. I prefer that you submit that suggestion since you have guru status whereas my newbie comments would get automatically deleted. By the way, I tried to increase the display size in Windows XP from 150% to 200%. That uses a lot of space in tool bars and on Windows menus but it does nothing to increase the font size in the Norton displays. Please convey to those programmers that most Baby Boomers are likely to have the same problem with fine print, and that some of them may consider it as a personal insult to be given illegibly small texts and instructions to read, as if the entire field of ergonomics had never existed. Thanks again for your help. Peter Aleff
Hello Peter
Yes, I just tried increasing the zoom percentage and that does nothing to the size of the Norton product. I will now put a suggestion there and you can give it a kudos after I have entered it. Feel free to give Kudos to any thread or people;s post any where. Thanks.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. I did not mean to imply that you annoyed or upset me, I realize that the content of the answer is not your fault but Norton's. I tried to increase the display size in Windows XP to 200% but that did not change the font size of the Norton displays. Is that display setting what you meant by Windows magnifier function, or is that yet some other means to increase font sizes? Thanks again for your help. Peter Aleff
Hello Peter
Here is the link for the New Idea feature I have posted that you suggested. Please check it out and tell me if it needs any changes. Thanks.
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Product-Ideas/idb-p/NIS_Suggestions/tab/most-recent
Hello Peter. The following link will explain how to access/use the Windows Magnifier in Windows XP, Vista, and 7. I have checked it and can confirm that it will "magnify" the text - indeed everything - in the Norton user interface, in Windows 7 anyway. Hope this helps.
peteraleff wrote:Sorry for the misunderstanding. I did not mean to imply that you annoyed or upset me, I realize that the content of the answer is not your fault but Norton's. I tried to increase the display size in Windows XP to 200% but that did not change the font size of the Norton displays. Is that display setting what you meant by Windows magnifier function, or is that yet some other means to increase font sizes? Thanks again for your help. Peter Aleff
Hi peteraleff
I meant the Windows XP magnifier which will magnify whatever is on the screen as your run the mouse pointer over it.
Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessibility > Magnifier
a lot of new notebooks are shipping with HDTv res, 1920x1080. my asus notebook has this res and most programs look fine but Norton is really small to read. seting the DPI doesn't improve things. only fix is to set your res smaller. but that's not a work around.
Thank you, mdturner, for your advice about the Windows magnifier of which I was not aware. I tried it but find it quite distracting when I have to follow both the position of my cursor in the small text while also trying to read the magnified text in another part of the screen. Compared with simply providing legible fonts, this magnifier just adds another layer of complication and should not be needed for a properly designed program. Again, you are very helpful, and it is not your fault that the solution you so kindly offer is not ideal and does not fully compensate for the casual thoughtlessness of the programmers. What they are doing is like building cars with opaque windshields, just because no one told them that people might want to see what is in front of them.
Hi peteraleff
floplot has posted a suggestion in the Norton Product Ideas Forum for Symantec to look at an option in their products to assist with the issue of readability for those who have some difficulty with smaller fonts and I feel sure they will look at it very seriously, as they do with all suggestions. In the meantime the Windows Magnifier seems to be the only viable solution, even though it is little fiddly and can be distracting until one gets used to using it.
Peteraleff:
Have you tried holding down the control key and then using the mouse wheel, or scrolling panel on a laptop to increase font size? I find that is the only way I can read small text sometimes. Plus you can use it anywhere.
edit for failed trial
Anywhere except my work machine antivirus. That may not be successful either.
Thank you, floplot, for having posted the suggestion that Norton offer increased font sizes. I am now curious how long it will take them to fix that omission. On the other hand, they should not shoulder the blame all alone because many other programs include the same disregard for basic usability. Anyway, I clicked you some kudos, for whatever good they may do you. Are they edible?
The reply by delphinium advising that the ctrl+scroll wheel option does not work on delphinium's AV suite also, unfortunately, applies to NIS2011.
Thank you, killyourtv, for your link to the Windows magnifier instructions. That tool works but is cumbersome and distracting to use because the user's eyes have to focus on two places at the same time, and it would be easier for users if they did not have to resort to such a makeshift solution to an unnecessary problem in the first place.
Thank you, delphinium, for your suggestion about the mouse wheel. It works on this forum, and I will try it in many other places because it is convenient. Unfortunately, even this magic trick is powerless against Norton's displays which remain on the nanoscale regardless how much I spin that mousewheel. However, the usefulness of your tip for other occasions earns you besides the kudo also a well deserved and exalted promotion to delphinium exaltatum. Peter Aleff
Hello Peter and others
I have posted the idea about fonts in the New Idea section of the Forum and gave the link for that thread. If you want to see Norton do something about the idea and implement it, then that thread needs to receive Kudos and people need to make comments there. The more attention that threaad receives, the more likelihood that it might be adapted in future patches of NIS/NAV. Just me posting the idea over there won't be enough to get any action about it. Thanks.