I'm setting up my new laptop and thought I'd try Gimp. After the download, I discovered that the tool selection area (and related text/fonts/tools) are SO small that they are not usable to me. And, the text in the selection areas does not fit in the boxes, resulting in my inability to read everything. I've been trying all kinds of fixes and can find none. I suspect it's a screen resolution issue BUT I want to keep this resolution and certainly don't want a change in all my other programs, which are fine.
As it is now, Gimp is simply not usable for me.

Hi Barry, Welcome to Gimp Chat.

Try
Edit (top menu) > Preferences > Display > Monitor Resolution > Enter Manually.

There are themes and large icons for high resolution displays, see here: https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-GIMP- ... ons-Themes

On the Gimp menue and i’m Assuming it allows changes that effect only Gimp and not other programs ? I’m an old photoshop user who can’t afford to keep paying for the program as i’m now retired and on a fixed income. Thank God for Gimp. Now, I just need to adapt to it. Thanks for your reply. I’ll give it a try.

Thanks! Will give it a try

That's the default behaviour of all software IMHO.

Your question led to a possible solution to a problem I had recently. I made a Gimp tut using screen recorder software. I told it to record the whole screen, but YouTube uses 16:9 for HD video. My desktop is not 16:9 but if I told the screen recorder to grab the active window after doing Gimp > Edit > Preferences > Display > Monitor Resolution > Enter Manually and entered 1920X1080 I would have HD video screen capture

@Barry


This is a Gimp theme issue with high definition displays. You can get improvements with the link that Ofnuts posted.

Screen resolution is another thing again. Gimp 2.10 (unlike Gimp 2.8) is good at determining the screen pixel density automatically. This laptop I am using is 158x158 pixels/inch. You should stick with the correct setting.

Why? For most editing there is a toggle in the View menu dot-for-dot Default is ON. One screen pixel = one image pixel. If you want to see what your work-of-art looks like printed, set the zoom to 100% and turn dot-for-dot off. For editing keep it on.

This example (zoom = 100%) 400 x 400 pix @ 200 ppi printed would be 2"x 2" about 5 cm x 5 cm.



Seen some horrors where horizontal and vertical resolutions have been 'adjusted'. Typically to stretch something rather than scaling the actual image.