Most people use Microsoft Internet Explorer. I have instructions for Mozilla Firefox below. Before you start, you should know that the "default" is what the computer does unless someone tells it differently.
Changing the text size:
Click on View -> Text Size
The current size will have a bullet point next to it. Select Largest, Larger,
Medium, Smaller or Smallest. It takes a micro-second or two to change. If the
size doesn't change, the web designers decided to use an unchangeable text
size. You can force it to change anyway.
Forcing a page to change text size:
Click on Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Accessibility
Check the "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages" box.
Click on "OK" twice - once in "Accessibility", once in "Internet Options".
Now set the text size to your liking, as above.
Opinion: Stupid web design.
You generally find unchangeable text sizes in expensive web sites. Some
professional web designers with 20/20 vision, 19-inch monitors and no
common sense assume the whole world is just like them. They don't realize
some of us have to use glasses, a 15-inch monitor or both. The bank that
administers my 401K plan, for instance, spent a lot of money on a site
that lets me see my plan balances. It uses a small, unchangeable text size.
Considering the fact that young people usually have great eyesight and
little interest in retirement planning, while we old ones are just the
opposite, this was a bad design choice. I won't embarrass the bank
by naming it, but they were famous in the Old West and their corporate
symbol is a stagecoach.
Changing the default font:
Some web sites set the font, some don't. This one doesn't. If the font
here looks bad to you, it's because your default is set to an ugly font.
You should change it. Default, in this case, is what the computer does
unless the web designer tells it differently.
Click on Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Fonts
There will be two choices, Web Page and Plain Text. Pick a font you
like for Web page. Arial and Verdana are both clean, modern and easy
to read. Times New Roman is elegant. Try a few and select one you like.
Courier is usually the only choice for the Plain Text Font. Recasting
the page in a new font takes a second or two. If that doesn't work,
the page isn't using your default font. You can force it. Go back to
the Accessibility window (above) and check "Ignore font styles".
Warning - if you do force the font, every page you visit will
use the forced font.
Keeping the size preference:
Your browser will remember the size you had set when you closed it. So,
if you want it to always start in the largest size, close all of your
browser windows but one, set the text size to largest in that one and
exit your browser.
Changing the text size:
Click on View -> Text Size -> Increase or Decrease
You may also use CTRL+ to increase text size or CTRL- to decrease
text size. On my keyboard "+" is a capital "=", but you don't use
the shift key to change the text size.
Hold down CTRL with one finger and press the "+/=" key with another.
Mozilla has 16 size gradations, compared to Microsoft IE's five.
Score one for the little guys! (Also, if your eyes are really bad,
consider downloading Mozilla Firefox and enlarging the text to
"billboard".
Changing the default font:
Click on Tools -> Options -> General -> Fonts & Colors
Choose fonts for Proportional, Serif, Sans-serif and Mono spaced.
(A capital "M" and a lower-case "i" will be the same width in
a mono-space font, different widths in the others.)
While you are in Fonts & Colors, look at the boxes labeled "Always use my |_| Fonts |_| Colors". They force the browser to use what you want, despite the choices some whipper-snapper tried to make for you.