To or not to specify font sizes

gm1234 · 08-25-2004, 11:31 PM

Now this is really serious. There are some who say that a font size of 10 to 12 points would be good, some others who say that font sizes should be specified in percentage of 80 to 90% and some others who are against specifying font sizes. I wonder which one would be correct on the web usability point of view. Any help?

Jim · 08-26-2004, 02:18 AM

I prefer specifying font-size in pixels. Like this:

Quote:

TD {FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 11px}

I also prefer and suggest max. 2 links in signature as it's a rule for these forums.

**LazyJim** · 08-29-2004, 05:33 PM

There's a good reason we don't specify font sizes in px Jim - that's because 11px that looks so fine on your screen is too small to read on other people's.

Using relative sizes at the least allows users to resize text so they can 'zoom in' to read it.

The best you can do in an environment with such a wide range of output devices, software and configurations, is to assume the default font size will trasnlate to roughly the same thing - a comfortable body text size - on all computers. That's why some people say don't specify any size.

You can use % or 'em' values for titles and things that should be bigger or larger.
Or 'xx-large' 'x-large' 'large' 'medium' 'small' 'x-small' 'xx-small' (specify a base size of 100% to make internet explorer choose more sane sizes).

Try to reduce your use of strict measurements as much as possible.

And remember, when users have set up their system to display text at a good size, specifying something like 80% (for example) is like telling them you think they're wrong, and if you want them to stay you should have more respect for their preferences.

evilregis · 09-01-2004, 11:19 AM

And if someone is using IE and decides that your specified 10px font-size is too small, they will be unable to expand it. IE can't scale font-sizes specified in px... only %'s and ems.

Every option has it's pros and cons. Weight them against your audience and figure out what is best for you.

If you are making a Mozilla/Opera/Konq/<not poo browser> fan forum then you could set the font-size any way you want and they could resize it if they would like.

There are very few hard and fast rules in web design, I find. It boils down to who are you trying to reach. Most cases that answer is "as many people as possible"...