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Participating Frequently
June 15, 2022
質問

Customize the color and appearance of the Ruler in Photoshop (macOS)

  • June 15, 2022
  • 返信数 8.
  • 4744 ビュー

I'm trying to scale a drawing and use the ruler to get dimensions correct. The ruler numbers are small and my eyes aren't all that great. The font used is a light gray on a dark gray background. I just can't read it.

 

How do I change the ruler font to something with more contrast. White on black. Larger would also help.

 

Looked in preferences but couldn't find anything that looked appropriate. 

 

Using MacBook M1.

 

 

 

 

{Title edited by Moderator}

返信数 8

Participant
August 21, 2023

Go to Photoshop Preferences. Choose Interface. I choose the lightest color. Ta da. The ruler turned whit, and I see clearly now!

Legend
June 16, 2022

You can customize colors of the ruler by modifying UIColors.txt, which is located in the application resources. You can find more information in the topic: Photoshop Purple Skin 

  

dwight_sipler作成者
Participating Frequently
June 16, 2022

Thanks to all. I got lots of suggestions. The interface theme worked best for me. I like the dark background but setting the theme to the lightest one gave me enough contrast to be able to read the ruler numbers. This was just a quick and dirty drawing, not worth going to Illustrator for (not something I have anyway). I probably make a drawing like this once every two or three years.

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 16, 2022

The Info panel and Properties panel are also there to aid you, as well as the Options panel when Transforming etc.

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 16, 2022

About the best contrast for the rulers I can get is changing the Interface colour to light grey in Preferences.

 

This is not the same as the background colour which we can set by right clicking the canvas background.

You can temporarily zoom way in to the image to help see where you are at on the rulers.

 

Another option would be to use View > New Guide Layout

My canvas below is 1000 pixels wide, so by using 10 columns I have a guide at every 100 pixel point.

If you needed odd positions for the guides, you'd have to make each guide separately 

I don't know if this helps at all, but I do know how it feels to be getting on in years and finding things harder to see.

 

 

 

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 16, 2022

For drawings, I would highly recommend you use Illustrator; not Photoshop.  

https://illustratorhow.com/how-to-add-guides/

 

Illustrator is a vector graphics apps well suited to working with line drawings. And you'll get much better quality with vector than you will with raster.

 

Photoshop is a better tool for working with photographs and bitmaps.

 

To answer your question, adjust your display's resolution at the OS level to make text more readable.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Ranjisha Sengupta
Legend
June 16, 2022

Hi there,

 

Thanks for reaching out. We're here to help.

Which version of Photoshop are you using? Do you want just the ruler to be displayed large or the entire UI?

Please check this article; you will find the steps to customize grids and guides in this section, " Set guide and grid preferences": https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/grid-guides.html.

 

Let us know if that helps.

 

Thanks,

Ranjisha

 

Participant
February 10, 2025

No, he's asking about RULER preferences, not guide or grid preferences. I'm having same issue 

 

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 10, 2025
Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
War Unicorn
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 15, 2022

I know changing the color theme (via Preferences > Interface) will also change the ruler appearance. It's not much, though.

 

Usually, if I need exact settings, I'll just drag a guide line out (or create a new guide layout via View > New Guide Layout).