A way to adjust font size within the steam client's browser

[Psymon²]

Some way to "zoom" within the steam client's browser, like in any typical web browser, would be very welcome.

On newer high resolution displays, the size of text that the steam client's browser is stuck at is too small to be comfortable for many, including those without deteriorated eye sight.

Any way to adjust the size of text in the steam client would be good, but a "zoom" is the simplest idea i have. Am very open to hearing others ideas for this.

Though, many have been having an issue with this for a long time...

[DarkCrystalMethod]

I presume they just haven't been able to decipher Google Chrome's API calls (Steam's embedded browser) else it would have been immediately and automatically something Steam could do (when they switched away from IE or whatever home built browser they were using before)

[wuddih]

Originally posted by DarkCrystalMethod:

I presume they just haven't been able to decipher Google Chrome's API calls (Steam's embedded browser) else it would have been immediately and automatically something Steam could do (when they switched away from IE or whatever home built browser they were using before)

trident(ms) -> webkit(apple) -> blink(google)
as for the browser engines that Steam used.

Steam uses chromium embedded framework[en.wikipedia.org]. while you could argue, its Google Chrome, its not, it Chromium. Google Chrome also uses Chromium.

there is nothing to decipher any API calls. chromium and the framework are well documented and it is literally just a few lines to get zoom to work.
they simply don't care and why they don't care?
they don't care because you should not use Steam as a web browser replacement. that is literally their credo for ever. "something does not work with Steam browser? use a real browser."

that being said, Steam and its overlay browser should respect Windows DPI scaling on 10 or later. dunno if its actually doing it in overlay because scaling is dumb in general, i'd rather get glasses or buy a display with a res that makes sense for the screen size.

[Psymon²]

Originally posted by wuddih:

...it is literally just a few lines to get zoom to work.
they simply don't care and why they don't care?
they don't care because you should not use Steam as a web browser replacement. that is literally their credo for ever. "something does not work with Steam browser? use a real browser."

that being said, Steam and its overlay browser should respect Windows DPI scaling on 10 or later. dunno if its actually doing it in overlay because scaling is dumb in general, i'd rather get glasses or buy a display with a res that makes sense for the screen size.

I'm very tempted to mark this as "answer".

[Psymon²]

Originally posted by Mr. OOSA:

The thread is dead. Long live the thread.

RIP that thread, 8 years old with over 2000 replies.

[Primal Fear]

Yes, I guess I will just have to buy a 65" screen (that I actually cannnot even fit at my desk) at 1920x1080 to have a normal font size in Steam (~5mm height of a non-capitalized letter like n).
Luckily I can scale almost all other applications, so their font doesn't have to be gigantic afterwards.
Huge pixel grid for the win!

I would happily use may own web browser for any web content. But when I click something in the game library, there is no way to tell the client to simply open this link in the system web browser.
Having the option to select a specific webbrowser (I would even like to create a specific profile only for Steam in Firefox that would have own bookmarks and be set it to remember the previous session) for displaying any web content other then the library would really be great.

[Primal Fear]

The more I think about this,having a fully functional web brower/browser profile just for Steam (with own bookmarks and pinned tabs and most notably a zoom feature) would be awesome.
Linking it with the Steam client to automatically open all web content in it would be really nice to have, but actually just for itself it would already be useful enough to justify for me setting this up.
And at that point only the font size in the library itself would be bothersome.

[Psymon²]

You guys are making good points that are closely related.
For example, i get steam emails, with links, such as "you got an award", and there's no way to get THEM to open in the steam client.
then there's links in the steam client that, for reasons i can't fathom, open in my BROWSER 😵🥴

[Primal Fear]

Still, regarding the library it really is an annoyance that Valve didn't bother to implement any accesibility features when they were making it completely new.

[Mr. OOSA]

It'd be nice if we could zoom in a bit. Text awful hard to read and so on. This has been a feature of most web browsers... for as long as there have been web browsers *almost*

[Mr. OOSA]

Also apparently my earlier comment of "The thread is dead, long live the thread" was not unique and failed to contribute to the discussion. I'd like to contribute to this discussion in a meaningful way. So, here is a link to the american disabilities act website, where information on topics like vision impairment and software vendors requirements when it comes to serving those with vision impairment can be found.

I hope this helps.

https://www.ada.gov/

[grrl267]

I (still) agree about the lack of zoom +/- like any other browser has been doing since even...IE?

I'm using a skin that Raydell developed and shared in the previous thread (The thread is dead! Long live the thread! /toast) about this topic and modified by another user, I'm sorry for not giving them credit. But the skin only works IF you know about it and IF you can find/install/edit it...AND it only works most of the time. My activity page in the Steam client has one section that is squirrelly and unreadable. It would be so very much easier to simply zoom the client. Like you do with any vanilla web browser without needing to install/patch/hack anything.

Pretty sure that was the original Psymon request: please implement zooming because the client is just too hard to see. There is a segment of Steam users who don't have perfect vision and 'just scale your OS' isn't the way to address this visual discomfort.

[DanNZN]

I just tried the Raydell skin and it did exactly what I wanted for forums but my Library would not show up at all. Had to go back to default.

[Primal Fear]

Raydell's skin doesn't properly work anymore with the "new" library (now actually from quite some time ago).
Here you can find a version that I keep updated:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y9KpxrJGsNWBgMpXNRbh5ZYObllyOLWO?usp=sharing

There is also my version, which increases size even more. That requires quite a bit more work for the client UI, since I often also need a to adjust window sized and layout too because it simply doesn't fit anymore at all.

[Crazy Cat™]

That is just unbelievable that they seem to not care at all about this size issue.
Look like they don't use their UI, or they will quickly understand that it's painful and annoying as hell.
Everybody should open a ticket and ask to their friends to do so.
May be they will start to understand that it's not a whim but a real problem.
Or move to an other plateform like GOG to buy your game.
I think that at the moment they have more people paying than complaining, they will do nothing.
But one thing is sure, they don't care about our satisfaction.

[grrl267]

No, there doesn't seem to be any care about this from Steam, which is why the other thread lingered, unresolved, for YEARS.

Primal is correct, I originally used the skin by Raydell, but I am using Primal's ES UI skin now. Thank you both for your hard work. The fact that we HAVE to (learn to) use skins to hack the Steam client to get usable UI is pathetic, and why just a simple +/- scaling within the client would be so much more professional.