On 05.03.2011 02:44, Martin wrote:
Now to the fonts. I know it doesn't look nice. I'm not an experienced
designer so earlier I read some basics on setting up the font sizes.
I got the impression that one shouldn't set font-size in pixels in
order to give the user freedom to change the size.
Only IE has limitations in that it can't resize text when font-size is
declared in pixels. IE can "ignore" declared font-size and apply its own
defaults though.
All non-IE browsers can resize pixel-set text same as 'em' and '%' set text.
Just avoid declaring line-height in pixels, as that is likely to cause
overlapping text-lines in some browsers if/when text is resized.
End-users can of course set up their own stylesheet(s) to correct basic
weaknesses on web sites - like s.c.: "fixed font size" etc, but those
who go that route usually know at least as much about web design as the
average web designer.
On my website it used to be font-size: 100% to be set as a browser's
default, however, The fonts looked much too big in all browsers
so I set the size in pictures to make them smaller.
What is the size/resolution on your screen(s)?
Remember that screens come in all sizes/resolutions, so what might be at
a certain size on yours will look different on others. Most browsers can
resize entire pages/documents these days, but if possible you should
check your designs on various screens, set-ups, sizes and resolutions
since various browsers can't be expected to correct and compensate for
every difference in an acceptable way if you design "too tight". In
short: you can't rely entirely on what your browser(s) present on your
screen(s).
Now you mention this 'minimum font size', but I'm not sure I
understand it. I would think I'd have to set the MAXIMUM font size so
that it doesn't get too big. Could you kindly elaborate on that?
'Minimum font size' is an option in most browsers, that many end-users
set at a preferred value to enforce a large enough (easily readable)
font size on all web sites. AFAIK, only Opera has a 'maximum font size'
option.
Old (but not outdated) article on the subject...
<http://www.gunlaug.no/contents/wd_1_03_04.html>
We web designers have no 'minimum' or 'maximum' font size declarations
available to us, so either our designs can handle various forms of font
resizing in browsers - as set by end-users, or our designs break (one
way or another) under the stress.
Accessibility recommendations define "200% font size" as a minimum web
documents should be designed to handle without causing problems by
breaking and/or obscuring content...
<http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-scale.html>
...which is something you may look into if you care about, or have to
work with, such matters.
In the latest browser versions CSS support is good enough to allow for
very flexible shapes in web designs. Thus lining up text on top of fixed
shapes, like images, to achieve certain "looks", is no longer necessary.
May be worth building up experience in use of latest progress in CSS
support across browser-land, as older browser versions, and the
techniques we used for them, are slowly becoming obsolete.
regards
Georg
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