Allow to change the font size and font of the workbench

[hsdk123]

At the moment, we can only change the font size / font of the editor. If we want to change the font size, we need to use a roundabout method of "zooming in / out". It would be nice if this could be adjusted through the preferences.

[skube]

Further to this, it seems weird that if I want larger fonts outside of the editor I have to zoom in each time I restart.

[egamma]

pls see #291 for the zooming issue (in general pls do not create combo issues 😄 )

[conceptualspace]

+1

v1.4.0 seemed to make the file explorer fonts larger/bolder, making it harder to traverse a large directory

[bobrocke]

+1

[nishantgeorge]

+1

[dodalovic]

👍

[cgiacomi]

👍

[bobrocke]

Does the new UI theming interface give access to the font size?

[kentor]

In addition, I would like to increase the line spacing in the explorer. File names are way too close to each other and is fatiguing to look at.

[xster]

Ha, I was gonna suggest exposing line height so I could decrease it and pack more files into each screen.

[timc13]

just to add another reason:

• changing the Explorer to a monospaced font is easier to read when scanning for files

[mzabuawala]

+1

Please add support for changing font size of EXPLORER window.

[id-aditya]

They're skeptical that this request will end up breaking the UI. They didn't plan the UI correctly initially like everyone else.

They need to be brave enough to implement this, not having this feature has made VSCode not so fun, those who are forced will never know the feel good feeling of being able to customize UI font family and size, it adds to productivity as well.

I escaped the matrix by using APC Customize UI+ extension but many especially newcomers to the editor will never taste it.

Those who wanna know how beautiful the IDE can become if we have this feature enabled:

[khalby786]

Dear VSCode,

In 2015, I was 9 years old. Young and blissfully ignorant of the world outside. I was a mere 9-year-old kid back then, probably still in elementary school, dreaming of the day I'd be old enough to complain about things like font choices in code editors. I was a mere 9-year-old kid back then, where my biggest concern was going back home and watching Transformers episodes on TV.

I am now 18 years old—a full-fledged adult. Over these years, the world has undergone seismic shifts: we've seen new leaders rise and fall, memes come and go, technology evolve beyond our wildest imaginations, and even weathered a global pandemic.

Meanwhile, my personal journey has been nothing short of a tragic epic. I’ve lived through the darkest recesses of adolescence, survived the existential crises of my teenage years, and watched as the spark of youthful optimism withered into weary resignation. The hopes and dreams of my early childhood have crumbled, giving way to a profound sense of existential dread. I witnessed the rise and fall of countless civilizations with my own eyes. My own personal growth has felt like an endless cycle of trying to reinvent myself, only to face the cold, indifferent reality that some things, like this font request, never evolve.

Amid all this tumult and transformation, one constant has remained unchanged: the unresolved request for an interface font update in VSCode. Even when the tides of the world changed, when the tables turned, and the coins flipped; when my parents disowned me and I turned to an addicted life of video games and StackOverflow threads, this GitHub issue was the only thing that stayed strong with me and open throughout all the traumatizing times.

Here’s to a decade of waiting and hoping. As the world moves forward, let’s not forget the humble font request that has withstood the test of time. While everything else around us evolved—society, technology, even my maturity level—VSCode's persistence to not add this feature still stays strong in my heart. If my 9-year-old self could witness this touching moment, I'm sure he'd be proud.

Sincerely,
A recovering developer

[russeg]

The lack of acknowledgement from the VS Code team makes me think this is not a technical issue, but something else. I mean, what is the insurmountable programming problem that this is still not implemented?

Maybe we should contact Guinness Book of World Records to suggest this as the hardest programming task in the universe?

This is really mind boggling.

[mitsukuri]

@russeg Why bother implementing font customization when all $takes are on neuroimplants and direct brain-to-AI interface) For the short transitory period when those brains are still needed for SkyNet's maintenance.. (Sarcasm, just in case)

[DanBrown47]

10 വർഷത്തെ കാത്തിരിപ്പാ

[ismailarilik]

I am planning to look at this issue but I just wonder what the challenges are. Does it require a bunch of changes? Isn't a PR like this enough: #144365 (probably with a revision) If someone mentor me, I would be glad and have a chance to handle what is necessary for this long-waited issue.

[ismailarilik]

I am planning to look at this issue but I just wonder what the challenges are. Does it require a bunch of changes? Isn't a PR like this enough: #144365 (probably with a revision) If someone mentor me, I would be glad and have a chance to handle what is necessary for this long-waited issue.

TL; DR: This project (microsoft/vscode) is open source but not free; let's fork it and fix long-waited issues there.

Just gave up. The story behind the PR #144365 is strange: When it was ready, it is kept up-to-date and waited for a feedback or approval from maintainers but doesn't get any response. Maintainers (Microsoft) don't even review a PR which should probably fix an issue which is much wanted by the community for a long time. This is weird, right? Yes, if this project was driven by community's wishes. But this is not the situation here. The issues here are prioritized by if they would bring any profit directly. But hey, this must be the case, right? Microsoft is a non-non-profit company.

So if I open a PR to fix this issue, it won't even be reviewed. So what can we do? I think we should fork this repo and implement long-waited features there. Actually there is a popular fork named VSCodium but they are probably not interested to maintain a fork of vscode. But I am gonna open this issue there anyway and try to explain why we need to maintain a fork.

If you wanna support me just upvote this comment and that comment.

[manuartero]

maybe Cursor does consider this ? 🤔

[Undisclosed-Information]

btw, release version 1.94 (September 2024) did not include this feature.

[ricolxwz]

btw, release version 1.94 (September 2024) did not include this feature.

This release broke apc extension++

drcika/apc-extension#230 (comment)

[darianmorat]

VSCode: "Made for developers"
Yeah sure!... Time for a nvim full trial

[imaiya]

Nearly ten years later, it’s surprising that this feature still bothers me

[perfumescent]

any progress?

[manuartero]

This issue has a purpose, it closes *mark as duplicated* the recurring a11y request 🤷‍♂

[slifty]

Fun Fact: this issue ID is three digits long and the issue IDs in this repository are now up to 6 figures.

Other related interesting metrics...

• There have been over two hundred thousand items opened in this repository since this accessibility / feature request was made!
• It is the oldest open issue with no assignee
• It is the ONLY issue in On Deck with no assignee (out of 831)
• It is the most commented on issue in On Deck, and represents 8.4% of the comments of all issue in On Deck
• Did I mention that nobody is assigned to the issue
• There was a PR to fix it in 2022 but progress died away since then: Add settings for changing the workbench font size and font #144365

[niceEli]

we need to be able to change fonts cause its hard too see this current one, id be best to use a font that i can read easy (like a monospace one) and it should be a simple accessibility issue. If its not fixed, i may (and others too) would need to leave vscode and move to other things like zed or jetbrains software (both of which, either have a builtin monospace font as default, or allow you to change the ui font)

[perfumescent]

Jetbrain is way more better, isn't it?

[AlexWayfer]

I'm still using Pulsar Editor, the descendent of Atom Editor. Highly customizable UI with simple styles. And this issue is still holding me from using VS Code. Yes, Pulsar has fewer features, not so well supported in such direction, but at least there are very communicable maintainers, helped a lot with different errors, third-party packages, etc.

[spxf]

Pls we need this feat!

[casastorta]

+1 for this.

[abdarker]

once Zed becomes stable i am dropping this junk for good. tho i am planning to switch to nvim

[salahkai]

+1