Why is default text in some graphic design applications so tiny?

Vasil Stanev
Vasil Stanev Posts: 775
in Font Technology
Hello,
for a long time it has bugged me that, when I start to type in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop (all standart versions that I can think of), the text is set at something like 12 pt and I have to resize it every time. Is there a particular reason why this is so, and can I change the default to something like 30 pt?

Comments

  • Paul Miller
    Paul Miller Posts: 273
    In Inkscape you can set the default.  If you select a style and font with no text selected then the program asks if you want to set this as the default.
  • John Nolan
    John Nolan Posts: 51
    Set the options with no files open. These become the new defaults.
    https://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2012/11/customizing-the-type-tools-default-settings-in-photoshop-cs6.html
  • Theunis de Jong
    Theunis de Jong Posts: 112
    In printed media, 12pt is huge. "Regular" reading text is around 10pt.
    Your experience with Adobe's defaults may be because (1) their software is old, old, old. Both Photoshop and Illustrator date back to the middle 1980s. In those days, with their typical low-resolution screens, 12pt on screen actually looked like 12pt-real-life.
    And (2) is, of course, that they do not keep up with 21st century high resolution display technology, and so they appear to not recalculate real world measurements to pixel size.
  • Vasil Stanev
    Vasil Stanev Posts: 775
    Theunis de Jong  funny you should say that, I have been using Adobe products since 2005 and have grown so accustomed to it that I just now understand how antediluvian the interface may appear in 2020. MS Word at least tried to innovate with the ribbon, but simple things like getting to the gradients swatches in Illustrator is quite the chore.  :# 
  • Cristóbal Henestrosa
    Cristóbal Henestrosa Posts: 75
    For me, book designer, 12 pt is just fine as a starting point. In addition, I think it is better to type at 12 pt, select all the text and make it bigger, than type it at 72 pt, and then select all the text and make it smaller, because if your text book turns out to be smaller than your actual text, selecting the text is a little bit harder. And yes, you can set new defaults, as @John Nolan said.
  • Cristóbal Henestrosa
    Cristóbal Henestrosa Posts: 75
    if your text book turns out to be smaller than your actual text
    I meant “if your text BOX turns out to be smaller than your actual text.” Sorry.
  • Vasil Stanev
    Vasil Stanev Posts: 775
    Cristobal Henestrosa said:
    if your text book turns out to be smaller than your actual text
    I meant “if your text BOX turns out to be smaller than your actual text.” Sorry.
    Thank you, and please check your PM inbox :smile:

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