Sequoia Dictionary app font change

After upgrading to macOS Sequoia, I immediately noticed that Apple have changed the Dictionary app’s font from sans serif to serif. They’ve also moved things around a bit and introduced more space everywhere, presumably because the prevailing design fashion is ALL THE SPACE EVERYWHERE or something.

Anyway, I find it hideously ugly, but more importantly, very hard to read.

My workaround was copy the dictionary files in /System from Sonoma into my user’s ~/Library/Dictionaries on Sequoia – luckily I have another machine still on Sonoma – and then adjust the Dictionary app’s prefs.

Another way around this is to copy the new Sequoia dictionaries from /System to your ~/Library/Dictionary and then edit the DefaultStyle.css file for each dictionary. It’s just a one line edit from ui-serif to ui-sans-serif. There’s a detailed write-up on how to do this here

All in all a bit of a faff and waste of time, especially as the change was completely unnecessary.

On the upside, iPhone mirroring means I can now access my Chambers Dictionary and Thesaurus on my laptop. Thankfully, Apple can’t change the font on those.

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To be honest, I hadn’t noticed, but personally prefer the Sequoia look.

Each to their own, I guess, especially as you have found a valid work around.