People having excellent sight naturally don't think about reading small
print books or web pages.
But a lot of the general population has a problem with this.
Because of possible browser fingerprinting issues & / or anonymity
leaks, TBB users are discouraged from
- changing default settings in TBB (like font name or the Default Font
size / minimum size).
- using addons / extensions - (here, to enlarge fonts) that might
compromise anonymity.
Points taken. Where does that leave users NEEDING larger than default
/ minimum font size?
My guess - people w/ these problems just change fonts / sizes by various
means, unaware of implications, or just no other choice.
For instance, using default font settings - TBB 3.5 - English, Windows -
apparent font size on
https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#WhatIsTor is approx.
equivalent to 9 pt (I think).
Even w/ Windows DPI increased to 110 vs. default 96. For many, the
equivalent of 9 pt is pretty small - even for a book.
Some pages use *very* small or hard to read font, if users keep the
default TBB setting, "allow pages to use their own fonts...."
For some, the default font STYLE - Times New Roman - (in TBB - English),
may be less readable than others.
Fonts other than Times New Roman are often recommended for better
general readability & for sight or other "reading problems."
Other reading problems exist besides eyesight / small font; I don't have
them, but they exist.
This general issue is problematic for many non-Tor users & overcoming it
is a *technical* issue; in TBB, it involves anonymity - even security /
freedom (get caught using Tor in the wrong place, for instance).
What are the *recommended* options for users w/ these issues, that won't
increase browser uniqueness or possibly compromise anonymity?
For web sites (or others) looking at font style / sizes in TBB, what
effect does using the keyboard & mouse to increase font size (e.g., Ctrl
+ scroll) have on fingerprinting?
Using THAT or similar method, can they still see the font size is
different than default?
Just a question - I don't have a perfect answer: what if default font
size was increased (some) - or *possibly* other changes - would it put
hardship on normally sighted users? Would it cause them equivalent
problems that small or harder to read font causes users w/ sight or
reading problems?
If changing default font or size, by ANY known method may still cause
concern, then developing an extension that plays nice w/ TBB isn't the
answer.
Thanks.