Methods and apparatus for various embodiments of a text adjustment tool provide direct modification of typographic attributes of displayed text by translating indications of movement across a display, received via user input, into typographic attribute modifications. The text adjustment tool allows a user an intuitive method for modifying typographic attributes of displayed text without a user needing to access any menu windows or without even knowing which typographic attribute is being modified. The intuitive nature of the text adjustment tool is reflected by the fact that at no point during a modification of a typographic attribute of targeted text does a user's eyes ever need to leave the text being modified.