I've been thinking about this issue since it was first posted because it seems to relate, at least a bit, to a bug in IE9 and 10 that I reported late last year. See IE bug ID 772679 <http://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/772679/ie10-not-recognizing-font-decloration-when-rem-is-used-as-font-size-unit-of-measure> . In thebug IE won't use the REM unit in any font-size rule including the font shorthand syntax. In fact does it not use the REM it completely ignores the entire font related rule and falls all the way back to its default serif or sans-serif skipping the full stack. Interestingly, IE will use the REM unit to size elements (as I do regularly).
I battled with their bug reporting system for months, it kept closing the bug with 'as designed' and I had to keep reactivating it. Finally I contacted out Fearless and Famous Leader, Mr. CSS Wizard himself, Eric Meyer who talked to some IE Engineers he knows who then started working on the issue via internal bug IDs....Many thanks Eric!! Anyway, this issue shines another light on the whole problem in IE. As I recall generated content is handled differently by the UA's parser. My guess is that when generated content is present a header is added to it before it enters the CSS parser and this header contains information that then allows IE to recognize and use the REM unit. I'll add a note to the bug ID containing the info from this problem...maybe it will help them id and fix the bug faster. In the meantime the only work-around that I've found is to include a font-sizing rule using pixels before one using REMs. Yes, I know it's a pain but the REM unit is just too powerful and flexible to let EM get in the way. Hope that helps a bit, Eric ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [css-d@lists.css-discuss.org] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
