"I Can't See the Text"... – Demo Font Size Tip

Have you ever had someone say, “I can’t really read the text on your screen…” in a demo? 

 

Is their eyesight that poor?  Likely not!  It may simply be a case where your screen resolution is greater than theirs. 

 

For example, if you are working from a home office using a large monitor and your customer has a small monitor, what are they seeing?  Your high-res large screen is mapped to a screen with much lower resolution, resulting in smaller everything – including font size.

 

For example, the current 13” MacBook Pro has a resolution of 2560‑by‑1600.  The iMac Pro, on the other hand, has a 27” monitor with a resolution of 5120-by-2880. 

 

The MacBook’s screen is one quarter the size of the iMac – which means that text that is just comfortable for you to see on your iMac will be unreadable on a MacBook Pro. 

 

Solution? 

 

Share your screen and show an example screen of your software, preferably with representative fonts and font sizes.   Ask the audience if they can see and read the text.  If they can, everything is good.  If they can’t, change your resolution or zoom as needed…!

If you can't change things, remember that you'll have to verbally communicate what your audience is seeing.