Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Big Sur Screen fonts are terrible

Upgraded to Big Sur. I had been running the beta and didn't notice the problem then. But in the release version, screen fonts are terrible in Big Sur! Much worse than Catalina. As just one example, white text on green background in iMessages is very hard on the eyes! This is not just a disagreement on Big Sur vs. Catalina style. Please fix this!


Apple, when you tout "Big Sur as the World's Most Advanced OS" (several times in the screens before creating a post) but then the screen fonts look terrible, you just make yourselves look ridiculous. Wouldn't the "world's most advanced OS" be able to get screen fonts right?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 16, 2020 11:13 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 18, 2020 9:01 PM

Durh Said:

Big Sur Screen fonts are terrible: Upgraded to Big Sur. I had been running the beta and didn't notice the problem then. But in the release version, screen fonts are terrible in Big Sur! Much worse than Catalina [...]The bigger question seems to me to be why should I have to change anything? Why does it just work at least as well as it was in Catalina.

———-


Provide your Feedback:

Do your Part: Inform Apple of your feedback of this issue. Include how you’ve troubleshot this thus far, and your results. 


Apple wont get back to you directly, but the more feedback they receive from its users, the more likely they will know what needs to be fixed, and what their customers prefer in updates, and future macOS versions to come.

  1. Go Here: Feedback - macOS - Apple
  2. Select: "Feature Request" for the "Feedback Type"
  3. Select: "User Interface" for the "Feedback Area"
  4. Proceed from there as necessary
39 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 18, 2020 9:01 PM in response to Durh

Durh Said:

Big Sur Screen fonts are terrible: Upgraded to Big Sur. I had been running the beta and didn't notice the problem then. But in the release version, screen fonts are terrible in Big Sur! Much worse than Catalina [...]The bigger question seems to me to be why should I have to change anything? Why does it just work at least as well as it was in Catalina.

———-


Provide your Feedback:

Do your Part: Inform Apple of your feedback of this issue. Include how you’ve troubleshot this thus far, and your results. 


Apple wont get back to you directly, but the more feedback they receive from its users, the more likely they will know what needs to be fixed, and what their customers prefer in updates, and future macOS versions to come.

  1. Go Here: Feedback - macOS - Apple
  2. Select: "Feature Request" for the "Feedback Type"
  3. Select: "User Interface" for the "Feedback Area"
  4. Proceed from there as necessary

Jan 10, 2021 7:13 AM in response to Durh

Big Sur is AWFUL - I wish I'd read all the negative comments before

I installed it! The Favorites Bar font is SO TINY it's unreadable and

there is no way to make it bigger! At least on Catalina I could

read the toolbars and favorites bar. If they made it easy to change/increase fonts

then okay, but I have tried everything - the webpages you can change, but the

toolbars you can't. Infuriating!

Feb 10, 2021 8:29 AM in response to exekutive

Please somebody tell me what happens to the title of the windows in finder? when I double click my hard disk icon, The name of my Hard disk is "/". We are getting UNIX path instead of the names! Also if you open 3 folders down and open them in the finder, the UNIX PATH is 1 mile long. In terms of the User interface, we are going Back! The icons in the mail application are copied from windows 10 preferences and so on. In safari, I have a hard time grabbing the top of the window to move it, someplace on the top it works, and some places it does not.

Nov 17, 2020 7:41 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for the reply. Changing the font and size helps some but even with that:


  1. white text on the green background looks bad. ("Gross" was the gut reaction I had this morning.)
  2. text that is fainter and oddly shadowed still shows up in various places on the system. For me, it increases eye strain. Maybe I need to go back to Catalina.


The bigger question seems to me to be why should I have to change anything? Why does it just work at least as well as it was in Catalina.

Dec 7, 2020 10:49 AM in response to John Scott1

There is another thread looking at system font and what I have found is that you can change the screen resolution : System Preferences, Display and Scaled. You lose very little in terms of resolution (at least on 27inch iMac) and gain a lot on system fonts. See if that helps. I would feedback to Apple about this issue both in feedback and accessibility. I am even a bit older than 50 something and yes as we get older, the fonts need to be readable.

Nov 17, 2020 6:58 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you for the support, yes accessibility work to some extent (beside the fact that it add a white line around the dock for example), but every time I open safari its like getting a camera flash in my eyes !!! everything is soooo "white". I don't want to be liken old sentimental goose but this is when you notice Steve jobs is not around anymore. I bet they did a lots of Focus group with barely millennials !!!!

Big Sur Screen fonts are terrible

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.