To Fix or not to Fix, dang we're back in Shakespeare's time with To Be or Not To Be, that is the question.
Let's start with the easy stuff ... fonts. If you use font-size: percentage, then your layer or table layout widths should be in percentages. If you use font-size: em, then your layer or table layout widths should be in em's. But, do you know what they both do? Interestingly enough, they take the default font size set in the browser and use it as a basis. If the font-family is a sans-serif and the user set the browser to 10pt then 100% would be equal in size to 10pt. If the you used em's, then the 1em would be equal in size to the 10pt. This allows the visitor the ability to declare their own font sizes without the use of programming a stylesheet ... effectively they are with setting defaults in their browser. So, if I come in and say that I want me font-size to be 1em or 100% then my font size is relative to the browser's default. Now, coming in and using the width attribute with fixed values will obviously cause your width to maintain a fixed value. This is unfriendly to the users of screens smaller than the values you set. It also doesn't always look professional on larger screens - in some people's opinions. By applying percentages you end up running the problem with the presentation causing drip effects in font presentations once the font-size gets too large. The drip effect is when the words start dripping off the line and eventually it will start dripping more quickly so as to make the words drip their letters as well. (Yes, I coined the term "drip effect"). The only truly scalable width is the em. As you increase the default font-size, the width increases as well. For example, if my default sans-serif is 10pt and I change that to 72pt, then 1em becomes equal to 72pt. If my mobile device uses a font-size of 6pt then 1em is equal to 6pt. But, please don't try to use 6pt on a regular computer. The problem with using scalable widths is people tend to not use them correctly. They'll use a scalable width such as 100% for the width and then turn around and use px or pt for their font-size. I've done it many times ... shame on me. But, now you know how to use scalable widths ... you have to use them with scalable font-sizes. So, I guess your next question would be how many em's would I need to use to make my presentation fill the screen without scrolling right? That is a good question and one I can't answer. In fact, you couldn't answer it either even if you guessed. The reason you can't is because of the visitor. Each visitor can set their own font-size values in their browser. And, since the em is based upon the font-size selected by the visitor, we have no control. My best advice is to tinker until you are happy with the default presentation. But, remember, you will make someone scroll right eventually. For example, if the 800x600 only hold 75em's wide and you decrease the screen resolution to less than that the user will have to scroll. But, still the em is the only truly scalable width. The purpose of having scalable widths is to help prevent the "drip effect". I hope this helps. Lee Roberts http://www.roserockdesign.com http://www.applepiecart.com ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help *****************************************************
