On 2007/09/05 23:17 (GMT+0300) Rimantas Liubertas apparently typed: >> That was, in part, why I started this thread; I felt (and still feel) >> that the notion of "you MUST design for 100% of your users' default text >> size because that is their preferred text size" was becoming a mantra.
> And that is only an assumption. Default font size was chosen by browser > vendors, not users. Not many know they can change it. Even less who know > do it. 1-How many is not many? 2-How many more would it take to be enough? 3-How many actually need to, regardless whether they know they can, or how to? 4-Why do you assume they have reason to? Maybe thinking in terms of an opposite proposition would be instructive. 1-I'd like to see (and expect never to find) a scientific study that shows either: a-complaints about web page text size being too big outnumber those about it being too small by normal average web users (not by web designers) b-author sizing to something less than 100% for primary content is preferred by normal average web users (not by web designers) c-most average web users (not web designers) find the defaults significantly different from ideal and would change them if they knew how 2-If vendors were getting significant numbers of complaints from genuine ordinary average web users, there is likelihood they would have changed them somewhere along the developmental way. Now with a GUI web over a decade old they are essentially unchanged in *nominal* size. During that same time, the *physical* size of those same nominally sized defaults has been shrinking significantly. 3-Fonts smaller than ideal have a different functional impact than fonts larger than ideal. Too big far less often equates to unusable and/or painful than does the converse. When I arrive on a site with too big fonts (as often happens to me due to styling as described on http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/SS/Clagnut/eonsSS ) I usually don't find enough discomfort to bother with resizing smaller, while when I arrive on the more usual site with too small fonts, I usually do one of three things: 1-close the tab; 2-hit back button; 3-zoom text larger. 4-Not all web users are morons to whom the implicit meaning of Personal Computer (PC) is lost. Personal means under and subject to the control and personalization of the computers they own and/or use. That "most" don't go beyond setting of desktop wallpaper and screensaver in personalizing is no reason to assume that any change you make that affects what they see is likely to be better for them than if you didn't. That you like smaller fonts than the defaults is no reason to assume they do too. I don't believe a web nearly 3 years beyond Firefox 1.0 and Safari 1.0 is still so overwhelmed with users who are so totally unclued that they can personalize their personal computer's web browsers that those who are clued can be still be disregarded as insufficient justification to respect anyone's preferences, whether actively or passively determined. -- "It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape." Chief Justice Joseph Story Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/ ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
