Tom Hamshere wrote: > Still, I don't understand how it could be made better without > degrading it for everybody else.
Reevaluate a basic assumption. The assumption you made is because the default is too big for you and needs to be reduced by 20%, that both: 1-most others have the same need, and, 2-it is your job to "fix" it for them. In spite of the fact that it is standard web design practice, this is absurd, and extremely rude. Nothing is more absurd than the proposition that if something is repeated often enough people believe it to be true. That among web developers many or most say the defaults are too big does not establish as fact that they are for any except themselves. You can't know anyone's needs or desires but your own or those who you have observed. About the rest, you don't know: 1-their visual acuity 2-their OS 3-their viewing device 4-their DPI 5-their resolution 6-their viewing distance 7-their surroundings 8-what they like 9-what they need 10-what their default is 11-why their default is the way it is 12-whether they have a problem 13-whether your style solves whatever problem may exist 14-whether they are permitted to make any needed or desired adjustment All the above circumstances outside your control impact what is or is not too big or too small. Too big and too small are problems with different consequences. If text is larger than ideal, coping is usually a minor problem at worst. Less may fit into the available space, but it's always possible to read. The same is not true if text is too small. Too small is the bigger problem, and more difficult to cope with. By shrinking text size, you shrink the visitor group with the minor problem, and enlarge the group with the bigger problem. It may be true that the default defaults are too big for many, or even most people. More importantly, it is certain that the converse is true, that the defaults are not wrong for some, almost certainly a significant number. Is one group more important than the other just because one is larger than the other? Among either, are those who've taken the initiative and made any required adjustment more or less worthy of your disregard? Virtually everyone has the ability, whether they know it or not, to change his own settings. This includes you. Assuming others have done this, whether or not they in fact have, is called respect. If you've never done it before, Google the newsgroup comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets for font size discussions. You'll see among the regulars there NO respect for those who don't respect user settings. Finally, don't you think a ticket agency's potential audience is skewed toward older people, people who as a group have more time and money for travel? As a group, the over-40 crowd has more difficulty seeing, and so need larger text than average. -- "Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made." John 1:3 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/auth/ ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
