Smart zoom

Smart zoom

Right-click a column of text so zoom, or tap Shift and click, then press +/-/0 to adjust the font size. Esc unzooms.

What is Smart zoom?
Smart Zoom is a unique Chrome extension designed to enhance text readability. It works by enabling users to zoom in on columns of text, making the text occupy the entire width of the screen. It has an adjustable font size feature, which can be controlled using the +/-/0 keys. However, the tool is best designed for text-heavy sites, with some exceptions.
Merlin
Stats
By: Sae Yuki
Users: 1,000+ ▲ 7
Rating: 4.54 (13)
Version: 0.1.7.2 (Last updated: 2018-08-30)
Creation date: 2018-08-30
Risk impact: Low risk impact
Risk likelihood: Very low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • contextMenus
Size: 30.12K
Stats date:

Other platforms

Not available on Firefox
Not available on Edge
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Merlin
Summary

Right-click a column of text and pick "Zoom" to make it take up the whole width of the screen. Esc unzooms.

Or you can tap Shift then click a column of text to zoom in on it, and/or press +/-/0 to adjust the font size. If you tap Shift accidentally, cancel zooming by tapping it again (or pressing any other key).

This extension works best for text-heavy sites: news, blogs, and so forth. It won't zoom all content correctly, and it's disabled for some sites like GMail and Hotmail where it doesn't work. Like all extensions, it's disabled on this site, too. And it's experimental: it could cause you problems.

If the keyboard shortcuts interfere with a webpage, you can disable them on a page by pressing ` (the backquote key, underneath Escape on some keyboards).

If you like this extension, take a look at the Readability Redux extension (by different folks), which lets you strip many news/blog sites down to plain text.

Note: This extension was originally published by another author. I loved this extension but it was not maintained any more and it was not worked on recent version of chrome. So I decided to fix it for latest chrome. I really appreciate original authors' efforts.

origin: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/smart-zoom/emfkpabfhchapdbfcmphhcagnkdloanp

User reviews
User reviews summary
These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Chrome Web Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Easy to use for smart zoom
  • Likened to having a 'Reader Mode' on every site
  • Deemed better than alternatives
Cons
  • Changes font size on YouTube to a smaller size
  • Some users report it not working
  • Conflict with shortcuts on some sites
  • No option to disable on certain sites
Most mentioned
  • Demands for a feature to disable on certain sites
  • Appreciation for the developer
  • Requests for Firefox version
Recent reviews
It is great but it has some undesirable behavior and it has no way to fix, it sets all the font size in youtube to a smaller font.
by Alucard Hellsing Alucard Hellsing, 2023-08-27

I haven't found better extension to do smart zoom. Why isn't this more popular?!?!?!?! Thank you, developer! :heart:
by Kamil Palczewski Kamil Palczewski, 2022-12-13

eye saver!
by Chen Benjamin Chen Benjamin, 2022-04-21
View all user reviews
Safety
Risk impact

Smart zoom is relatively safe to use as it requires very minimum permissions.

Risk likelihood

Smart zoom has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

Upgrade to see risk analysis details
Screenshots
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