Re: Fonts Appear Larger in IE7

On 17 Oct, 05:34, Jim Moe <jmm-list.AXSPA...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There is the one these groups always promote: font-size: 100%.

That (in its simple form) isn't the best advice - because of this IE
bug. Obviously it's still better advice than points or pixels though.

However we have to live with IE, warts and all. As the OP posted, "
Fonts Appear Larger in IE7" - they already have a problem with this.


If the visitor finds the text size too large, she can reduce it.

In that case, why not just use pixels?

The whole point of font-size: 100%; is that the user has _already_
chosen an appropriate default font size, and that's how they want to
see things. If users have to adjust, then we've blown it.

Maybe, one day, the majority of sites will already offer 100% to all
users, rather than <font size=3.141> as at present. IE users will by
then have learned to compensate by already setting their browsers to
be smaller than "Text Size: Normal", to compensate.

No doubt the day afterwards, IE8 will come out and simply fix the bug.
Then our compensations will have an overall negative effect.

If you have a target market that is known to use IE7 on high resolution
monitors (what determines high resolution?) and most users have modified
the desktop text size, your solution is a good one.

You have a point in terms of "not pandering to IE's bugs". font-size:
80%; _is_ wrong, even if it's wrapped up in a conditional comment. I'm
not claiming it's right, just that it's not as bad for "typical" users
today.

The worst thing about it is that it's inconsistent with the ideal
practice of 100%. As things are (when sites are poor at setting good
defaults) then 80% gives "a best average" result. If sites improved
though, such that 100% became "typical", then being different to this
would have a worse result than offering the best approximation of the
intention - because by that time, "average" IE users would also have
learned to adjust their browser settings.

However for the current state of affairs, 80% delivers a better size
for more people, more of the time, than 100%. And as you say, there's
always their own adjustments.


Then there's eBay. Why do so many auction sellers think that <font
size=6 align=center color=pink > is ever a good idea?

.

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