[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:26:00 -0600: > Also - what are the advantages/disadvantages of using em width verses % > width on the columns? I don't see anything to directly address this on the wiki home page.
Both are relative measures. The difference is what each is relative to. Em is always relative to font size. % is relative to the containing block, usually the body, a div, or a table, unless applied to font-size, in which case it applies to the parent font-size. When you set your column widths in em, as font size is changed, the relative widths of the columns stay the same, but the absolute width only changes when font size is changed. Whether a horizontal scoll will appear depends on the viewport width, on the widths you set, and on the font size actually used, which means it is possible for the font size used to cause a horizontal scroll. Using ems for column widths means line lengths in characters will not vary as text size is changed. If at 16px default #rightside fits exactly "They said don't try to change" all on one line, then it will do the same if the default is instead 24px or 32px. In contrast, when you set column widths as a % of the body, the column widths change only when the viewport width is changed, not when font size is changed. This means regardless of actual font size, a change in font size won't cause a horizontal scroll. This also means the columns can get very crowded or even inadquate in width if the actual font size is large. If at 16px default in an 800px wide viewport in #rightside fits exactly "They said don't try to change" all on one line, as text size is increased to 32px, that line will split onto two or more lines. If you design a page (with no images) using em widths to look the way you want in a 1000px wide viewport with 16px defaults (e.g. for 1024x768 resolution), then the page will look proportionally identical with 32px defaults in a 2000px wide viewport (e.g. for 2048x1536 resolution). -- "Love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:31 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/auth/ ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d IE7b2 testing hub -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=IE7 List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
