CS5 Very small toolbar- Tried Preferences, Interface, Large and it doesn't work.

[Honeydew56]

I have Win 7 and just got the CS5 Premium installed.  Everything is fine in the other programs but Photoshop's toolbar and swatch pallette are so small that it is very hard to work with.  The menu bar(file, edit, etc) all across the top look like they are are a 2 pt. font. They are also very hard to read.  I tried setting it to large in the preferences but it didn'tchange anything.  Any other suggestions?

[Honeydew56]

Since I am the one that originally started this thread, I would like to "reply" to my original post.  I did get my money back from Adobe CS5.  But I have found something else out.  I have Photoshop Elements on my my laptop (running on Win7) and that also had the tiny menus plus instead of one pointer, I now had THREE to deal with and very aggravating.  I was searching for an answer online.  I found something that might help those that are struggling with the microscopic text in CS5.  I went to START, then I right clicked on my PSE program in the listing, and clicked on PROPERTIES, then on COMPATIBILITY, I selected to run in XP.  My PS Elements menu text is now fine and easy to read.  All is fixed except for the triple cursor issue.  I'd like to hear if setting the compatibility makes a difference for all of you CS5 and CS4 users.

[Chris Cox]

The triple cursor is a symptom of a video card driver bug plus something in the OS UI scaling code (disabling the OS UI scaling fixes it, as does updating the video card driver).

[sjhpubs]

NOPE!  No difference in PhotoShop UI. 

[sjhpubs]

How did you get your money back?

[PECourtejoie]

Discussion moved in Photoshop General

[PECourtejoie]

I'd like also to point out this feature request thread, where users that would like to see resolution independence could vote fo the support of resolution independence: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/problem_with_hi_res_monitors

With reports of future intel chipsets supporting up to 4k x 4k pixels http://www.anandtech.com/show/4838/ivy-bridge-gpu-to-support-resolutions-of-up-to-4096x4096, and ongoing rumors of "HiDPI" Mac Displays: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/14/apple-to-launch-2880x1800-resolution-retina-display-macbook-pro-... this is definitively an issue that should be on the radar of Adobe's User Experience team.

[Guest]

I have a solution for Windows 7 users! It's not perfect but it works pretty well.

Windows 7 users, go to your start menu and type "Magnifier". An option for a software program called Magnifier will appear. Click it. Zoom to 200% (or more, whatever your preference) then click the "Views" button. From the Views drop down menu select either "Lens" or "Docked". Lens gives you a floating square that enlarges everything it passes over. Docked creates a wide bar across the top of your screen that magnifies everything your mouse passes over. Once you've selected your favourite option, minimize the magnifier program (but don't close it) and start using Photoshop.

Now you should be able to see everything magnified!

I also suffered from tiny text in Photoshop and this helped me SO MUCH.

[gambist1]

Since posting this problem back in May 2010 I have just, as you all have, learned to live with the rottenly small size of the menu items in Photoshop.  In all this time Adobe has not done anything to rectify this - shame on them.

But recently I stumbled upon an odd side effect of an iPad 2 app.  Splashtop is an app that streams content from your desktop pc to, in my case, an iPad.  When I open the app on the iPad, it finds my pc and links to it.  If I was using e.g. Photoshop on my desktop pc, I get a mirror image of it on the iPad, so I can edit Photoshop images on the iPad (sometimes easier than endless mousing).

But, when running Splashtop from the iPad it causes my desktop monitor to display EVERYTHING much larger.  Yes, folks, even the Photoshop menu bars, and the drop down items.  I have no idea why it does this or if it is just something I have set without knowing it.  I just downloaded the app and set it up and it magnifies the whole display on my pc.  When I close the app on the iPad the pc monitor just reverts to its normal display size. 

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/splashtop-remote-desktop-for/id382509315?mt=8

[Trevor.Dennis]

I don't know if it has already been suggested back up the thread (too many posts to trawl through) but would one of the specialist keeyboards help?

View larger

I use a 30inch Dell 1920*1200 monitor, and I have very poor eyesight, but get by OK because like most folk here, I use the shortcuts for tools, or just know where they. But I think a 2560*1600 pixel screen would prove difficult for me, and my 19 inch 1920 x 1200 laptop is already unusable for Photoshop for me.

Tom's hardware was discussing 4K and even 8K televisions recently.  That's 3840*2160 for 4K, and 7680*4320 for 8K.  4K is bound to filter across to computer monitors within the next few years - that is to say, possibly within the lifetime of CS6.  They are already talking about a 10 inch display with a 2048*1536 resolution for the iPad3.  I sounds like a bit of a leap for the graphic card manufactuers, but it is obviously doable.

So bottom line here, CS6 will have the tool icons issue fixed.

[Noel Carboni]

Does your "Splashtop" app cause your desktop pixel count to change (I suspect it does)?  What's your monitor's native resolution and what's your desktop size when running Splashtop?

By the way, not everyone thinks the small menus are "rotten".  I very much like everything to be small - I have sharp monitors (two of them), good eyes (when I wear my glasses), and having the UI elements small gives me more room to do the real work. 

While I certainly believe the Photoshop UI should be made to follow user preferences, I just don't want Adobe to think, because the only comments ask for it to be larger, that they should just make it all larger.

-Noel

[ohnoezitasploded1]

Just adding my voice, I have a 1920x1080 15" monitor on my laptop, and so I have the text scaling set to 'Larger' and that generally works very well.  If Adobe feels like CS5 must have their very own special UI, fine, but it needs to take accessibility cues from the native OS.

[dhawn6]

I just installed c6, I would assume by now (after 3 versions) adobe would of listened to users with hi res screens and allowed a larger UI if needed like some of the other adobe programs.  Guess what, I can't find any improvement except a darker screen. What a let down.

[rob_adams]

Who in the heck is looking at the cs6 windows UI?  They need someone over 40 to do it..

[Noel Carboni]

I'm 54 and have no problem with it.  It's because I have excellent computer glasses.

If you use a computer all the time, consider spending the effort and money to get some good computer eyeglasses.  Don't let the optometrist doing the testing tell you "that's close enough", either.  Get them to mock up your prescription and allow you to look at a real computer screen.  You should be able to see every pixel in discrete glory.

If you can't see the small UI elements you're going to miss things in your photo work too.

-Noel

[rob_adams]

What size monitor do you have?  What resolution?

[Noel Carboni]

Two Dell 2001FP 1600 x 1200 100 ppi LCD monitors.

-Noel

[rob_adams]

I'm using a dell 30" @2560x1600.  Allows for great flexibility, but PS menus stink... Toooo tiny

[dhawn6]

Well I've been trying for 2 years to get adobe to offer the option to have larger IU menu's in photoshop (without work arounds) I was hoping it would be in this version.  I guess they don't care about their customers, and after all, I still keep buying their product.  When using the dell 30" at its best resolution the quality of the pictures is superb and easy to work with. Although It is difficult to read the UI menu's because they are so small with 2560x1600,( by straining, even with special glasses they are readable) it would be nice to be able to see them just a little larger, as other programs allow, and has been requested many times by users.    When paying what they want for cs6 it seems like they could at least listen and try to improve IU menu's size.  I can't even get a reply that they are concerned.  Has anybody tried different color combinations that help, if so what is working.

[Noel Carboni]

Well, at 100 ppi, my monitors show UI elements at the same size your Dell 30" does.  I personally find the light text on dark background more comfortable, but I sometimes get a sensitivity to light (migraines), and I'm not sure it's because the dark background makes things more readable that it feels better to me.  The menus seem quite readable each way (dark on light or light on dark).

Out of curiosity, when you view this forum, do you use the browser zoom?  I leave it at 100%.

Have you run the ClearType Text Tuner application?

-Noel

[macs_47granddad]

For the number of years this conversation has been going on, it seems obvious that Adobe has no commercial interest in solving the visibilty problem. That's a shame.

[Noel Carboni]

Well, it may be a long-running discussion but to be fair it's not exactly a red-hot subject.  The prior post was 8 months ago.

How things are can be explained...

Parts of the software are still from a time in the 1980s/1990s when you got what you got and were happy to get it.  Computers hadn't embraced graphics for long, and they were just powerful enough to run things at ONE size, with ONE font.  Screens were small and processors were slow.

Chances are it would take a HUGE rewrite to make Photoshop fully compliant with modern accessibility themes (keeping in mind the history, and also that it runs on both PC and Mac with just a re-compile).  Adobe, by creating unexpected new problems every time it's updated, has shown quite clearly that the software is complex beyond belief and difficult to work on at best.

Given that Adobe is making billions from it just the way it is now, perhaps they just can't justify breaking a lot of things in the product for millions of satisfied customers just to help a few thousand more.  At the end of the day Adobe's not in business to provide a service to every man, woman, and child, but to make money for its stockholders.  None of them, you can be sure, would want to take a 30% hit in profits to make the system more accessible to you.

In a commercial environment products can be suitable for purposes - or not.  In the latter case, people just don't buy them.

I'm sure if they were starting it over from scratch they'd design in accessibility features and make sure they were implemented in a flexible way.  That's just not how it is.

-Noel

[R Ham]

Yes.  Much agreed.

I was amazed to see this microscopic UI could not be adjusted.  You would think that a company that likes to exploit its reputation as industry leader by charging triple what the products are worth, and that stands on its head to block unpaid users, would have a little more pride than to offer products like this to the public without a clear warning displayed prominently.  The trendy black-on-charcoal look is bad enough.  These speck-o-dirt icons and side-effects fonts are not to be believed.

For the benefit of all the Windows tips and tricks experts here, I've driven these boxes for 20 years, and I build my own machines.  I know my way around Windows.  The OS cannot compensate for this issue.

.............

After Effects CS6

[ShikiMeow]

Has this been fixed in CS6 or CC?

[station_two]

I'm not a Cash Cow subscriber, but I can confirm that the cr@ppy, tiny interface disgrace is there in CS6, Photoshop 13.0.5.

[Noel Carboni]

Virtually nothing, UI size-wise, has changed with Photoshop CC since Photoshop CS6.

Only thing is that with Photoshop CS6 and newer, you can choose a dark background with light icons and text, which for me makes things MUCH easier on the eyes.  But I think others (e.g., station_two) feel the opposite.

I suggest for those having trouble seeing the small UI elements in Photoshop, that you consider whether your display monitor is providing you a crisp, clear view of the application.  There is a world of difference between a good monitor that renders each pixel discretely and clearly, and the many that don't.  Often smaller UI elements can be acceptable if they're crisp and bright.

And let's not forget that Photoshop is a professional application, which needs to put a LOT of controls on the screen.  Making them larger goes against that, which is probably why Adobe hasn't made adding an upsizable interface high on their priority list.

-Noel