Screen magnification

 

What is it?

Screen magnification can enlarge the contents on the screen. It’s useful for people with partial or limited vision, people who have difficulty reading small text or seeing small images, and everyone else in certain situations (for example, if a website has disabled the ability to zoom, or an app does not support zooming, you can still use screen magnification to enlarge the content).

Magnifiers can come bundled with operating systems (both on desktop and mobile), or they can be installed as standalone software or browser plugins. Most magnifying software can:

  • Zoom in on the entire screen, or a portion of it.
  • Be set to follow focus.
  • Modify and enhance the look of visible cursors and pointers.
  • Change colour, brightness, and contrast settings.

Typical users work within the range of 1x to 16x magnification, but a lot of the software can zoom in much further. Additionally, some people also use external magnifying devices, which can be handheld or installed in front of screens.

Evaluating the look and performance of digital service at different magnification levels is an integral part of size testing.

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