Improving readability of programmes

[ChamomileShark]

hi, I have myopia and some macular degeneration which means working with some programmes on my PC more difficult than it should be because they have small writing. An example is Cubase.

When I increase the magnification in the PC's settings the writing is bigger but blurry.

I don't know if this is an issue with the monitor, in which case I need to get another. If so, what should I look for?

Or is it the programmes themselves that are not set up to allow for this?

[BertKoor]

Scaling a GUI in Windows makes it blurry.

The program puts out pixels to draw. Then Windows stretches them because it needs to be scaled. For instance scaling to 150% means each 2 pixels drawn by the program are drawn on 3 pixels on the monitor. Halve pixels don't exist, so the inbetween pixels get neither black or white but become grey.

Also the scaling can have other effects, demonstrated on this page:
http://www.bertkoor.nl/checker.html
(press Ctrl Plus and Ctrl Min to see what happens)

What you can do is scale up by an integer ratio such as 200% (perhaps combined with a monitor that has tiny pixels) or look for a DAW other than Cubase in which lets you set custom GUI font sizes.

[ChamomileShark]

@ Bert, thanks for the clear explanation. I'll try 200% and have a look at what happens in Bitwig which is my other DAW..not that I can see me giving up Cubase unless I absolutely have to.

[Psyclapse]

My eyes aren't as young as they used to be so I sometimes use the Windows Magnifier app, especially when using some older plugins that do not to scale for modern monitors.

Can't remember if you have to install it as an add-on or whether its available by default, but anyway I use short cuts to zoom in and out to a comfortable level which are Winkey+ and Winkey-, then WinkeyEsc to exit back to normal. You can set your own plus and minus increments, mine are set to 5%. There are other shortcuts too which you could google, but I get by with those three.

Saves me doing this:

edit, found this:

[ChamomileShark]

hi, yes I've used that, Cubase quickly becomes blurry and at 200% it's way to big to navigate sensibly.