Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 00:03:57 -0700 From: Wayne Chapeskie <waynec@spinnaker.com> To: freebsd-www@freebsd.org Subject: New site - font-size issues Message-ID: <20051007070357.GB43170@spinnaker.com>
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The new web site triggered what for me is a pet peeve I have with many web site designers. The style sheet file "http://www.freebsd.org/layout/css/global.css" contains the following lines: body { ... font-size: 69%; ... } What this says to the client's web browser is the following: "Do you know the default font and font size that your owner spent so much time choosing, tailoring it to the size of his monitor, display resolution, font selection peculiarities in his operating environment, and taking account the condition of his eyes, and his own preferences? The size in which he likes to see the bulk of text in his browser windows? Yes that size. Don't use it. Display almost all of the text on this site shrunk by almost 1/3 instead." In response to which I have one question: Why? We can see that the author had an idea that this might not be a good idea, since there is that "Text Size: Normal / Large" selector up in the corner, where "Large" pick up "fixed_large.css" in the style, which has an override: body { font-size: 93%; } Of course, "Normal / Large" is a misnomer; what the page calls "Normal" is actually a shrunken, small size, and "Large" is almost the default size. Look, "default font size" means exactly that. The bulk of the text on a page should be left in that size, because I, as a web site author *cannot* know what each of my readers prefers; there are simply too many variables. It would also be incredibly presumptous of me to presume that I know better than my readers what looks best on their systems, and to their eyes. Browser developers and users go to a lot of trouble figuring out what size works best as a default. Respect their choices. Font size changes from the default are properly used to convey such visual cues as emphasis (headings in a larger size), or "this is less important", through smaller size. This is basic web design, and the fact that a lot of web authors make this mistake doesn't make the practice acceptable, or any less annoying to the reader. At least the style sheet doesn't use absolute font sizes--that would have really annoyed me... -- Wayne Chapeskie GnuPG/PGP KeyID: 0xB9D2D272
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