Font Size

[TCH-Thomas]

Is there a font size recommendation set by W3C or anyone (preferrably in points)?

I visited w3c but got lost very quick in all their info.

[TCH-Bruce]

Don't know if there is a standard or not but setting a specific point size will prevent someone from increasing or decreasing the font size in their browser.

 

When I do specify point sizes I generally make them 10, 11 or 12 depending on what I am using them for.

[TCH-Thomas]

Its just that I long time ago read that standard body text is to be 10, so i was curious if it had changed.

Edited April 7, 2004 by Jikrantz

[kaseytraeger]

I base my choice in font size on what size monitor I think most of my users will be using. If most of them are on 800x600 monitors, I choose a smaller font size because it will end up showing up larger on the 800x600 monitor than a 1024x768 monitor just by reason of monitor resolution.

 

Generally, I try to code my text to be in the neighborhood of 10pt. I've recently learned (see Designing with Web Standards by Eric Meyer), however, that there can be problems to setting your font size specifically to a particular point value, for example:

>font: 10pt tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;

In addition, declaring specific pixel values for your font sizes, while definitely providing a standard size for each font across browsers and platforms, also poses some difficulties (again, I reference Eric Meyer's book).

 

I found an interesting article that seems to address the size of font sizes quite nicely. It was published on the web site "A List Apart". You can find it at www.alistapart.com/articles/sizematters

 

I hope you will find something in this article that will be helpful to you.

 

[btrfld]

Hi Thomas.

 

I believe the conventional wisdom is not to use Points for specifying web pages. Points are specifically a Print concept, and are interpreted differently by different browser/makers, so the results will not be consistent. Pixels are better, as they are consistent, and other things (like images) are specified in pixels. On another hand, Keywords allow flexibility, which pixels do not. Sadly, the bottom line is that there is no pleasing all the browsers all the time.

 

Once again I'm going to recommend Jeffrey Zeldman's excellent Designing With Web Standards, a fount of knowledge, history and current thinking about so many things. He devotes an entire chapter to the issue of Fonts and Sizes, and covers several approaches that may help. No, I don't work for him, nor have I ever met him; it's just the best book investment I've ever made in the field of web development.

 

There you go: my 2p. Hope it helps somewhat.

Jim

[TCH-Rob]

I have a 40 inch plasma monitor so I see things best in 2 point.

 

Wait.......

I was dreaming again, even with the 21 inch monitor I am using my old eyes need at least 10.

[TCH-Don]

I like the idea of using percentages

i.e. <H1> as 150%

<H2> as 125%

.footer as 80%

and so on.

That way the visitor can increase or decrease

the point size to suite their eyes and monitor.

[kaseytraeger]

I like the idea of using percentages

i.e.  <H1> as 150%

<H2> as 125%

.footer as 80%

and so on.

That way the visitor can increase or decrease

the point size to suite their eyes and monitor.

Don,

 

This technique works as long as you're very careful not to nest your font sizes. For example, if you code one font size as 75% and then inadvertently set another font size to 50% within the region of the 75% font size, what you'll end up with is text that's 37.5% of standard size instead of the 50% size you intended.

 

Although I've always just set my font sizes in pixels so that they'll be consistent in size across browsers, I do realize the shortcomings of this method because some people may want to increase or decrease their font sizes. By setting them to a specified pixel size, they can't do that.

 

I'm currently playing around with the keyword method of controlling font sizes. It doesn't give me as much precise control, but it's far better from a usability standpoint. I guess you might say I'm a web standards and usability convert. I used to create pages that looked good to me without consideration to others. Boy, have I since changed my tune!!!

 

[!!blue]

While researching font size standards to reply to this thread, I found this link www.sam-i-am.com/work/sandbox/css/fontsizes.html which shows you a listing of many of the possible CSS font sizes and you can change the font to show too.

 

I changed now to using em's as my font size unit. I use to use small and xx-small and all those but became weird when the viewer resized the font via the browser. But who knows what the standard is...

 

later,

!!blue

 

---edit---

W3C suggests em or percentages...read more www.w3.org/QA/Tips/font-size

---/edit---

Edited April 8, 2004 by !!blue

[Wilexa]

I am using em's as well on my new site. It scales up and down easily depending on the user preferences, but be careful and make sure to test your pages in various browser text sizes. The jumps are pretty big!

 

I use 1em for normal text, .8em for smallish and 1.2em or 1.4em for headlines.

 

Most of my audience has, well, been around the block a few times and they appreciate the relatively larger text.

 

...dave

[Deverill]

I do realize the shortcomings of this method because some people may want to increase or decrease their font sizes. By setting them to a specified pixel size, they can't do that.

It's totally uncool across browsers, but one more kudo to Mozilla Firefox is that it will resize your pages even in they use pixels. I tested IE and it doesn't. Not that we can count on this as developers but it's nice as a user! It sure would be nice for there to be standards that everyone adheres to (thus the name "standard")!

Edited April 8, 2004 by TCH-Jim

[TCH-Thomas]

I believe the conventional wisdom is not to use Points for specifying web pages

I cant use pixels (I think) since i use CuteSite builder to make my pages.

[kaseytraeger]

I cant use pixels (I think) since i use CuteSite builder to make my pages.

Not that I'm recommending pixels as the way to go, but if you want to use pixels, you can probably go in and edit your style sheets by hand.

 

I'm not familiar with CuteSite Builder, but doesn't it offer stylesheets? I think stylesheets are pretty much integrated with web page building software now, aren't they? If CSB spits out style sheets for you, just open them in your favorite text editor and hack away!!! Naughty