john wrote on Fri, 26 Nov 2004 17:26:19 +0000: > For the most part, the debute of my "standards-friendly" redesign has > been met with great fanfare, but I've been receiving a few emails from > people saying that the text is "way too small." This, I do not > understand, as I've used em to specify font sizes, and they all look > good to most. Of course, I'm not striving for MOST...I want ALL. > So, what would be affecting these users who are saying the text is too > small? Default computer font size? What do I tell them, or is there > anything more I can do on my site? > http://cslewis.drzeus.net
>From http://cslewis.drzeus.net/style.css I collected the following: font-size: 0.7em; .new font-size: 0.7em; .small font-size: 0.8em; #tabmenu a, a.active font-size: 0.8em; #content font-size: 0.8em; #sidemenu li a font-size: 0.85em; #footer font-size: .9em; td font-size: 100.01%; body font-size: 1em; .introtext font-size: 1em; .paper font-size: 1em; #content ul font-size: 1.2em; #qotd blockquote p font-size: 400%; .drop font-size: 12px; #secondarymenu font-size: 17px; h2 font-size: 20px; h1 font-size: 36px; #banner h1 Are all the last four affiliated with images? If not, they too should be sized in em, keywords, or percent. and from http://cslewis.drzeus.net/forums/templates/peasoup/peasoup.css font-size: 10px; .copyright font: 11px input,textarea, select font-size: 11px; .code font-size: 11px; .gensmall font-size: 11px; .name font-size: 11px; .postdetails font-size: 11px; .quote font-size: 11px; .topictitle font-size: 11px; input.button font-size: 11px; th font-size: 12px .cattitle font-size: 12px; .forumlink font-size: 12px; .gen font-size: 12px; .genmed font-size: 12px; .mainmenu font-size: 12px; th.thHead,td.catHead font-size: 14px; .postbody font-size: 18px; .maintitle,h1,h2 Looking at the the homepage with Domi, I see some cascading ems e.g.: #content .small = 80% * 70% = 56% Verdana(huge),Arial(large),helv(average) #content .introtext = 80% * 120% = 96% georgia(average),tnr(small),times(small) Visitor 1 with 800x600 and default (his preference) set to 13px arrives and sees: #content = 80% = 10.4px #content .small = 80% * 70% = 7.28px #content .introtext = 80% * 120% = 12.48px #sidemenu li a = 80% = 10.4px http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/tmp/Images/cslewis1.png The minimum intelligible size for a PC display is 9px, so your #content .small is clearly too small no matter how good the eyes and large the display. If it was me, I'd not let the cascade happen. Try using a keyword instead in .small at least. Visitor 2 with flat panel 1400x1050 and default (his preference) set to 22px arrives and sees: #content = 80% = 17.6px #content .small = 80% * 70% = 12.3px #content .introtext = 80% * 120% = 21.1px #sidemenu li a = 80% = 17.6px http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/tmp/Images/cslewis2.png Then he clicks the link "forums" and sees: again http://cslewis.drzeus.net/forums/templates/peasoup/peasoup.css plus inline styles: font-size: 0.6em; #footer = 13.2px font-size: 0.8em; #tabmenu a, a.active = 17.6px font-size: 20px; h1 font-size: 36px; #banner h1 http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/tmp/Images/cslewis3.png So, most of what he sees on arrival is smaller than his default, then he clicks a link, and most of the new page shrinks more, which easily could be the people complaining. Also, it shows a significant reason why I so rarely try to use any web forum. http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/tmp/Images/cslewis4.png shows result of user above zooming the same page enough to restore the main content to his preferred size. If the site was one I frequent, it would probably look something like this: http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/tmp/Images/cslewis5.png due to user stylesheet with rules something like: @-moz-document url-prefix(http://cslewis.drzeus.net/) { .small {font-size: smaller !important;} /* or font-size: small */ .new {font-size: x-small !important;} /* or font-size: small */ h1 {font-size: x-large !important;} h2 {font-size: large !important;} #tabmenu a, a.active {font-size: small !important;} #qotd {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important;} #qotd blockquote p {font-size: medium !important;} #content, #content ul {font-size: medium !important;} #content blockquote {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important;} #footer {font-size: x-small !important;} #sidemenu li a {font-size: small !important;} #secondarymenu {font-size: x-small !important;} /* or font-size: small */} Maybe your stylesheets could apply the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) wholly (main content 100% based) instead of partially (merely resizable in browsers lacking zoom). See also http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/auth/defaultsize.html and URL below -- "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/auth/wauth.html ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
