diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java b/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
index c9349e855..d3f85a118 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
@@ -55,11 +55,13 @@ public class Preferences {
   static Map<String, String> defaults;
   static Map<String, String> table = new HashMap<>();
   static File preferencesFile;
+  private static boolean initalized = false;
 
 
 //  /** @return true if the sketchbook file did not exist */
 //  static public boolean init() {
   static public void init() {
+    initalized = true;
     // start by loading the defaults, in case something
     // important was deleted from the user prefs
     try {
@@ -127,6 +129,14 @@ public class Preferences {
   }
 
 
+  /**
+   * For testing, pretend to load preferences without a real file.
+   */
+  static public void skipInit() {
+    initalized = true;
+  }
+
+
   static void handleProxy(String protocol, String hostProp, String portProp) {
     String proxyHost = get("proxy." + protocol + ".host");
     String proxyPort = get("proxy." + protocol + ".port");
@@ -260,6 +270,11 @@ public class Preferences {
   // all the information from preferences.txt
 
   static public String get(String attribute /*, String defaultValue */) {
+    if (!initalized) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(
+        "Tried reading preferences prior to initalization."
+      );
+    }
     return table.get(attribute);
   }
 
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/ui/Toolkit.java b/app/src/processing/app/ui/Toolkit.java
index f1cbf56dc..181db4b68 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/ui/Toolkit.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/ui/Toolkit.java
@@ -829,6 +829,13 @@ public class Toolkit {
     new StringList("100%", "150%", "200%", "300%");
 
 
+  /**
+   * Calculate the desired size in pixels of an element using preferences or
+   * system zoom if preferences set to auto.
+   *
+   * @param pixels The size in pixels to scale.
+   * @return The scaled size.
+   */
   static public int zoom(int pixels) {
     if (zoom == 0) {
       zoom = parseZoom();
@@ -844,8 +851,7 @@ public class Toolkit {
   }
 
 
-  static public final int BORDER =
-    Toolkit.zoom(Platform.isMacOS() ? 20 : 13);
+  static public final int BORDER = Platform.isMacOS() ? 20 : 13;
 
 
   static public void setBorder(JComponent comp) {
@@ -903,7 +909,7 @@ public class Toolkit {
 
 
   static public boolean highResImages() {
-    return isRetina() || (zoom > 1);
+    return isRetina() || (Platform.getSystemZoom() > 1);
   }
 
 
diff --git a/java/test/processing/mode/java/ProcessingTestUtil.java b/java/test/processing/mode/java/ProcessingTestUtil.java
index cd8e43e9e..40c7dde34 100644
--- a/java/test/processing/mode/java/ProcessingTestUtil.java
+++ b/java/test/processing/mode/java/ProcessingTestUtil.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public class ProcessingTestUtil {
   static void init() {
     // noop; just causes class to be loaded
   }
-  
+
   private static final String RESOURCES = "test/resources/";
   private static final String RESOURCES_UP_DIR = "../java/test/resources";
   static final UTCompiler COMPILER;
@@ -64,9 +64,10 @@ public class ProcessingTestUtil {
 
     return normalize(out);
   }
-  
+
   static String format(final File resource)
   {
+    Preferences.skipInit();
     return format(read(resource));
   }