Firefox 73 gets an UI option to set a global zoom level

Firefox users may soon be able to set a global zoom level in the web browser for all websites that they visit using the user interface. Up until now, users had to rely on third-party browser extensions such as Fixed Zoom to set a global zoom level that is applied to all sites.

The Firefox web browser supports several zooming features already. Firefox users may have noticed that they may apply zoom levels to different sites, e.g. by holding down the Ctrl-key and using the mousewheel, and that these zoom levels are remembered by the browser.

The site-specific zoom functionality was introduced in Firefox 3 in 2009, and it is still possible up to this day to disable it in the advanced configuration. The browser highlights if the zoom level is not set to the default in the address bar; this was introduced in Firefox 51 back in 2016.

Mozilla plans to introduce new configuration options to set a default zoom level globally in Firefox 73. Firefox users may use the new preference to change the default zoom level of 100% to another value so that sites appear smaller or larger in size. Mozilla wants to introduce an option to limit zooming to text content only on webpages as well in Firefox 73.

Starting with the release of Firefox 73, and already available in Firefox Nightly, Firefox users may open the browser's preferences to set a global zoom level. Just load about:preferences in the browser's address bar or select Menu > Settings > General to get there.

Scroll down to the new Zoom group setting on the page. There you find options to change the default zoom level between 30% and 300%. Note that global means that the zoom level is applied to internal Firefox pages including the Settings page as well.

Loaded websites don't need to be reloaded as the zoom level is applied automatically to them as well. Firefox users who want text zooming only can check the "zoom text only" box on the preferences page to enable that feature.

Firefox will highlight zoom levels in the address bar if they deviate from the default zoom level. It is still possible to change the zoom level of a site thanks to Firefox's site specific zoom level functionality and Firefox will still remember that zoom level across sessions.

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 73 on February 11, 2020.

Now You: Do you use Firefox's zoom functionality?