Is it possible to use custom GUI magnifications?

Question

I am running Mathematica 7 on Windows XP Pro. I often use the magnification feature to zoom in on Plots, ListPlots, and Graphics that I have created. If I go to the Window menu, there is a Magnification option, which gives a submenu with the following options:

• 50%
• 100%
• 125%
• 150%
• 200%
• 300%

Is it possible to use a magnification of, for example, 110%?

Answer 1

Something like this might help:

SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],DockedCells->
Cell[BoxData[ToBoxes[DynamicModule[{m=1},Panel[Slider[
Dynamic[m,SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],Magnification->(m=#)]&],{0.5,2.0}],
"Magnification"]]]],"DockedCell"]]

It puts a magnification control into a docked cell at the top of the notebook window.

Answer 2

Since you reference the Window > Magnification menu I think you are describing zoom for the entire Notebook.

You can set magnification in 10% increments by holding Ctrl and rolling the mouse wheel up or down.

By first setting the Magnification to 125% you get 115%, 135% etc, and you can therefore select magnification down to 5% granularity very quickly.

---

Other magnification values can be set using the Option Inspector or SetOptions. You can for example zoom all Notebooks at once (which do not have Magnification values set internally) with:

SetOptions[$FrontEndSession, Magnification -> 1.17]

Answer 3

You cannot directly do that from the Window > Zoom menu option. However, you can use the following to zoom selections at other magnification levels. The following code creates a palette that lets you magnify a selection in your notebook between 50% to 300% in steps of 10.

DynamicModule[{zoom = 1},
    CreatePalette[Column@{
    "Custom zoom",
    Dynamic@Row[{
        Button["-", zoom -= 0.1, Enabled -> (zoom >= 0.5)], 
        100 zoom, 
        Button["+", zoom += 0.1, Enabled -> (zoom <= 3)]
    }],
    Dynamic@Button["Zoom selection", 
        SetOptions[NotebookSelection[SelectedNotebook[]], Magnification -> zoom]]
    }]
]

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Evaluating the above code creates a palette like the following:

Now just select anything in your notebook, use the +/- buttons to increase/decrease the magnification and click the button. Here's an example where I've zoom parts of the above code in my notebook: