On 2007/06/20 17:07 (GMT-0400) Rick Faircloth apparently typed:

> What establishes the baseline size of 100% ?

This is a web browser setting.

> Do all browsers use the same baseline size? 

They mostly used to be close, and still are, but less so than in the past. The 
reasons for the divergence mostly have to do with the higher resolution of 
modern displays and the methods of setting
them. In most cases, particularly on modern hardware, it starts at close to a 
nominal 12pt, a size that in scientific tests of web user preferences is their 
overall favorite.

http://archivist.incutio.com/viewlist/css-discuss/68515 simply explains the 
starting points, but remember that these are intended to be adjusted by browser 
users who find the initial settings not to
their liking. In addition, all modern browsers have some kind of shorthand way 
to increase either the size of page text and/or all page elements including 
images. The best ones include a way to force
text to some minimum size. The worst, IE6 and prior, has a broken resizer that 
is incapable of resizing text sized in pt, px and other absolute sizes. If you 
size using these units, many IE users will
find the result unusable and be unable to do anything to improve it.

> And do all browsers react to percentages the same?

The modern versions are close, though some round by truncation while others 
round mathematically, which often leads to small differences.

Note that em units as applied to font sizes are in theory exactly equivalent to 
percentages - simply the CSS syntax is different. However due to an IE bug, a 
font size set in em on either html or body
elements can cause compound application of sizing on child elements. To avoid 
that problem any size you set on html and/or body should not be set in ems on 
pages expected to be used in IE.
-- 
"Respect everyone."     I Peter 2:17 NIV

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409

Felix Miata  ***  http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/
______________________________________________________________________
css-discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d
IE7 information -- 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/

Reply via email to