feat: add configurable sidebar font sizes #2626
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Add two new workbench settings for controlling font sizes in sidebars: - workbench.sideBar.fontSize: Controls primary sidebar font size (6-32px) - workbench.secondarySideBar.fontSize: Controls secondary sidebar font size This improves accessibility by allowing users to independently scale sidebar content without requiring full UI zoom or source code edits. Implementation uses CSS custom properties for live updates without reload. Default of 13px preserves existing behavior. Based on rejected VS Code PR #270851 - rejected with "In this area we do not accept PRs" despite 18 positive reactions and community support.
Member
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Thank you for the PR. Ya, it fixes an issue with VSCode. Shouldn't it also change the title, action icons, inputs? Here the changes I would see:
It would be nice if we could also change the tabs font size. |
Member
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@xiaolai Can you make the changes? |
Member
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@codingus-g Could give your feedback? Thx |
Contributor
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This can be combined with my suggestion. It's possible to change the entire Workbench font. -> #2647 
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Summary
This patch adds user-configurable font size settings for both primary and secondary sidebars, addressing long-standing accessibility requests.
New Settings
workbench.sideBar.fontSize: Controls the font size used for content inside the primary side bar (6-32px, default 13px)workbench.secondarySideBar.fontSize: Controls the font size used for content inside the secondary side bar (6-32px, default 13px)Demo
Implementation
--vscode-workbench-sidebar-font-sizeand--vscode-workbench-secondary-sidebar-font-size)Files Modified (via patch)
src/vs/workbench/browser/workbench.contribution.ts— Configuration schemasrc/vs/workbench/browser/parts/sidebar/sidebarPart.ts— Primary sidebar logicsrc/vs/workbench/browser/parts/sidebar/media/sidebarpart.css— Primary sidebar stylingsrc/vs/workbench/browser/parts/auxiliarybar/auxiliaryBarPart.ts— Secondary sidebar logicsrc/vs/workbench/browser/parts/auxiliarybar/media/auxiliaryBarPart.css— Secondary sidebar stylingMotivation
Users frequently request enlarged sidebar content for better readability. Prior solutions were limited to zooming the entire interface or manual CSS editing. This change exposes configuration directly in Settings, supporting accessibility workflows.
Background
This is based on microsoft/vscode#270851, which was rejected by Microsoft with the comment "In this area we do not accept PRs, thanks" despite receiving 18 positive reactions and significant community support.
Since VSCodium is more community-driven, this feature could benefit users who need this accessibility improvement.
Testing
The original PR author tested with:
npm run compileexecuted successfully