Jeroen Visser [ vizi ] wrote:
'px' is the worst unit to define font size in, as Internet Explorer still cannot increase or decrease the size of fonts set in pixels.
pt is worse. IE can't resize it either, and it depends on both DPI and resolution, not just resolution, making its ultimate size even more difficult to predict.
Ack.
Common accessibility and usability practice is to allow visitors the freedom to adapt font sizing to their personal preferences.
I don't think common is the best choice of word for that sentence, unless you take the word common to mean something merely more than rare. It really isn't that common yet except among students of accessible design. Best or good would be better choices.
Obviously you're right. Consider it wishful thinking on my part. ;-)
Pixels are not a relative unit; they're as absolute for screen rendering as point sizes are for the printing press.
IOW, the problem is that px is not relative to anything inside a browser viewport, the only place the term relative has relevant meaning in the world of CSS. Unfortuately, the CSS spec makes people think px is a relative unit :-( http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/syndata.html#value-def-length
Reminds me of a discussion on Bugzilla covering a rounding error that Gecko introduces while computing layouts because the engine internally works with a smaller virtual 'pixel' which gets converted to screen pixels only afterwards. :-)
Jeroen
-- vizi fotografie & grafisch ontwerp - http://www.vizi.nl/
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