#Mail: Functionality for accessibility (increase/decrease font size)

[gtandersen]

Add buttons to increase/decrease font size for improved accessibility.

[peter-fb]

This is a really needed feature. I tested Runbox 7 again today, and I was very surprised to find everything so tiny and cramped.

Please use more white space and padding or at least provide the functionality to do so. Right now Runbox 7 doesn't look very modern. And usability-wise it's also bad if everything is tiny and cramped.

[petersalomonsen]

Isn't it just to use ctrl and + / - keys in the browser to change font size? at least that works for me.

[peter-fb]

Here are some reasons why it's necessary to offer a setting to increase/decrease the font size:

1. Different people have different needs.
2. You can already change the font size in Runbox 6, so if you don't offer that functionality in Runbox 7 then it's a regression.
3. The average user doesn't know about Ctrl++ or Ctrl+-.
4. Using Ctrl++ makes everything bigger, not just the the font. The icons etc. also get bigger. But the default icon size, for example, is already OK.
5. If you must use tiny, non-standard font sizes--compared to the vast majority of other webmail clients--then at least make it configurable and easy to change.

[gtandersen]

Isn't it just to use ctrl and + / - keys in the browser to change font size? at least that works for me.

Hello @petersalomonsen!

This is a good solution for most cases and is even remembered by the browser across sessions.

[gtandersen]

@peter-fb We recently decreased the font sizes in response to popular requests and they are now more similar to other webmail interfaces and email clients.

While we have been planning to introduce functionality to adjust font sizes in Runbox 7 similar to 6, modern browsers' zoom feature works surprisingly well (with customizability per website and across sessions) and there are some advantages to letting the browser control such settings.

We generally carry functionality from Runbox 6 over to 7, but there are some that might no longer be relevant due to circumstantial technological advances (such as the spell checker previously found in Compose).

Your feedback is much appreciated as we continue working to improve the accessibility aspects of Runbox 7.

[peter-fb]

Hi @gtandersen

We recently decreased the font sizes in response to popular requests and they are now more similar to other webmail interfaces and email clients.

If you compare Runbox 7 and Gmail--the market leader--then I'm surprised you can say Runbox 7 is now more similar to other webmail interfaces. Additionally, the trend goes in the opposite direction, font sizes have increased over the last few years. Here is a screenshot of Runbox 7 and Gmail, side by side:

modern browsers' zoom feature works surprisingly well (with customizability per website and across sessions)

For some reason the list of emails in Runbox 7 is more fuzzy after increasing the zoom in Firefox.

[peter-fb]

@gtandersen also said:

This is a good solution for most cases and is even remembered by the browser across sessions.

As I said earlier, a drawback to that solution is that no average user knows about this hotkey.

I find the font sizes of Runbox 6 totally fine. The defaults of Runbox 7 on the other hand are not OK IMHO. And if I use Ctrl++ to change the zoom then the result is sub-optimal.

So I'll stay with Runbox 6 for the time being, I'm not happy with Runbox 7.

[gtandersen]

We recently decreased the font sizes in response to popular requests and they are now more similar to other webmail interfaces and email clients.

If you compare Runbox 7 and Gmail--the market leader--then I'm surprised you can say Runbox 7 is now more similar to other webmail interfaces. Additionally, the trend goes in the opposite direction, font sizes have increased over the last few years. Here is a screenshot of Runbox 7 and Gmail, side by side:

We must have been ahead of our time! Perhaps we should increase the font sizes slightly again, if other readers/users concur.

modern browsers' zoom feature works surprisingly well (with customizability per website and across sessions)

For some reason the list of emails in Runbox 7 is more fuzzy after increasing the zoom in Firefox.

This probably depends on the browser/platform in use (possibly less optimal on Windows platforms), as the Canvas table responsible for showing the message list relies on the browser rendering the text differently than the rest of the screen.

[peter-fb]

I would still like to have another way to increase the font size and density of the UI.

But if Ctrl and the + and - keys in the browser are the only way to change the font size for Runbox 7, then a separate subdomain like app.runbox.com needs to be created, too. Otherwise, if you increase the font size, then other elements of runbox.com apart from Runbox 7 become excessively large (as this method with Ctrl only works for the whole domain or subdomain if available), even though they were previously properly sized.