Geek Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/super-size-dock-hover.jpg" alt="Super Size Mac OS X Dock Icon Magnification " title="super-size-dock-hover" width="619" height="256" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15840" /></p> <p>For those using larger displays you may wish the Dock icon magnification was greater, this can be achieved easily with a defaults write command. The number at the end represents the pixel dimensions of the icon magnification, so 200 equates to 200×200 (for reference, 128 is the default):</p> <p><code>defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -float 200</code></p> <p>200×200 makes the icons quite a bit larger, but you’ll start noticing pixelation because <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">Mac OS X</a> does not <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/04/22/mac-retina-display-resolution-possibilities/">yet support resolution independence</a>. For you to see the changes, you’ll need to have Magnification enabled through System Preferences > Dock > Magnification, and then you’ll have to kill the Dock:</p> <p><code>killall Dock</code></p> <p>Other than aesthetic reasons, larger magnification can be useful when setting up user accounts for novices, the visually impaired, or <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2010/07/16/make-your-mac-kid-friendly/">kids</a>. If this is your objective, you might want to go a step further and <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/24/make-mac-os-x-look-like-ipad-ios/">create an iOS style desktop for the Mac</a>.</p> <p>Beyond a point this really isn’t that useful and it can turn just downright useless and even ugly as icons get pixelated, case in point:</p> <p><code>defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -float 512</code></p> <p>Other than for pranking someone, this looks basically ridiculous. The image below shows 512×512 Dock icons laying over System Preferences:</p> <p><span id="more-15839"></span> <img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/super-size-dock-icons.jpg" alt="super sized dock icons" title="super-size-dock-icons" width="620" height="479" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-15841" /></p> <p>As you can imagine, when icons are 512×512 they’re taking up a considerable percentage of your average Mac screen, which becomes a usability disaster for anything beyond humor.</p> <p>You can revert back to normal again by setting a maximum of 128:</p> <p><code>defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -float 128; killall Dock</code></p> <p>That last command combines killing the Dock with the defaults write into a single string, just makes things easier.</p> <p>Along the same lines to this, <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2008/01/02/make-finder-desktop-icon-sizes-huge/">you can also super-size Desktop icons</a> to outlandish levels with a different defaults write command, but it suffers the same pixelation issue.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kT9ktnMtkhMjFDxXTLo3L8JI6oQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kT9ktnMtkhMjFDxXTLo3L8JI6oQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kT9ktnMtkhMjFDxXTLo3L8JI6oQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kT9ktnMtkhMjFDxXTLo3L8JI6oQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=--piJ7fpGnA:wr9VZYQj9TM:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/--piJ7fpGnA" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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