Font-size

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

Hello,
I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

Hello,
I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

Hello,
I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain < table class>, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that it could not be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a larger table?

 

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

Hello,
I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?

Why would you want to give it any size? If you don't, it will
appear at the user's preferred size.

Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

Use 100% or 1em for the basic size. For a slightly smaller font,
use 90% or .9em. For a slightly larger font, use 110% or 1.1em.
Etc...

You must assume that the user has the default size set at their
preferred size. Don't make any font much smaller than that. Larger
fonts are easier to read than smaller fonts.

 

[dorayme]

Hello,
I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

If a reader is comfortable with the body text set at 100% or 1em,
then he will be expecting a bit of smaller text, it is normal for
a few things and is something, ideally at least, be taking into
account when setting what is normal on his browser. So this
should be a non problem unless you are up to tricks and making
the normal already very small...

The signs are that you are being furtive, guilty. Confess
everything Luigi, you are among your dearest enemies...

 

[Kevin Scholl]

You must assume that the user has the default size set at their
preferred size.

Allow me to play devil's advocate here, though I'm quite sure will
probably generate the same ol' black-and-white bantering...

In my experience (which for reference goes back to the pre-Mosaic days)
the vast - and I DO mean VAST - majority of people have no idea that
this is even possible, much less HOW to do it.

Not to say whether I agree or disagree in concept; as with most things,
there is no absolute. Rather that such a general assumption is geared
toward a very small percentage of users.

--

*** Remove the DELETE from my address to reply ***

======================================================
Kevin Scholl http://www.ksscholl.com/
(e-mail address removed)

 

[dorayme]

Allow me to play devil's advocate here, though I'm quite sure will
probably generate the same ol' black-and-white bantering...

In my experience (which for reference goes back to the pre-Mosaic days)
the vast - and I DO mean VAST - majority of people have no idea that
this is even possible, much less HOW to do it.

Not to say whether I agree or disagree in concept; as with most things,
there is no absolute. Rather that such a general assumption is geared
toward a very small percentage of users.

You won't get any argument from me on this. But you have to
understand that you are now in church and it is the high ground
that gets set here, it has to be set somewhere as a beacon of
light in a sea of ignorance.

By the way, to the OP, (he sounds Italian), some browsers have a
minimum font size that the user can set. iCab and Safari do, no
doubt most other modern browsers. This means the browser brings
up any size smaller than this to the set minimum.... I think.

I don't set this myself because I figure it this way: if someone
wants me to see something really small, I will let them. If it is
too small to read, the intention might have been aesthetic where
the look is the important thing. If not, it is simple enough to
enlarge and read it and, at the same time, be irritated by the
over large text for the rest - two birds with one stone
really....

 

[Toby Inkster]

In my experience (which for reference goes back to the pre-Mosaic days)
the vast - and I DO mean VAST - majority of people have no idea that
this is even possible, much less HOW to do it.

But even if as you say, most people don't know how to change their font
size, one can assume that they are reasonably happy with their default
font size -- if it bothered them that much, they would have found out how
to change it.

 

[Chaddy2222]

Hello,
Hi.

I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Let´s say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

Hmmmm.
I as a rule of thumb would use font-size set to medium, to make it
readable, it's worth mentioning though that font-size set to "smaller"
is generally harder to read.
Though it would be better not to use the font-size tags in HTML at all,
define them as a % in your CSS file. Just set it at 100% and be done
with it, a user *should* be able to read your font at 100%, unless they
have the default set at a rediculously small font size, also use 90%
for smaller font and something like 120% for <h1> and slightly smaller
for the other headings.

 

[Maate]

You could also set different stylesheets depending on screen
resolution.

Check this out:

http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/style-sheets-by-resolution.html

 

[Leonard Blaisdell]

Allow me to play devil's advocate here, though I'm quite sure will
probably generate the same ol' black-and-white bantering...

In my experience (which for reference goes back to the pre-Mosaic days)
the vast - and I DO mean VAST - majority of people have no idea that
this is even possible, much less HOW to do it.

Not to say whether I agree or disagree in concept; as with most things,
there is no absolute. Rather that such a general assumption is geared
toward a very small percentage of users.

I agree in concept. I understand the concept. I apply the concept. I
know how to adjust font size in my browsers. I'd almost bet that few
people that I personally know even care. Preferred font size is what
their browser defaults to. And their browser is nearly always IE.
I'd guess in general that if you are capable of changing to a different
browser, you are capable of changing font size within your browser.
As we get older, we notice that the font size can be changed when we
can't read the default and bitch about it to someone who knows.
My dismal view worth less than two cents.

leo

 

[dorayme]

But even if as you say, most people don't know how to change their font
size, one can assume that they are reasonably happy with their default
font size -- if it bothered them that much, they would have found out how
to change it.

There is some truth in this but not as much as some might
suppose. It is amazing what folk will put up with and website
makers on the whole tend to use less than 100%. This has
consequences. One of them is that there would be a tendency for
browsers to be set either by default or by a technician at what
makes most sites comfortable viewing. When the good guys use
100%, it looks oddly big to a lot of people.

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

You could also set different stylesheets depending on screen resolution.

Check this out:

http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/style-sheets-by-resolution.html

I had rather not use javascript. Is there any other way?
However I might provide a link to another page which the user could follow
if he or she thinks that the table is not readable..
the other page could display a large table.

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

Sorry, perhaps my explanation was not very good...
Here is a another try.
I was not talkning about images in the tables but about tables which do not
contain images such as the ones on the page
https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/it/svezia.html
In order to prevent the tables from overflowing I could set font-size:
smaller;
only for the content in the table or in a certain table.
This way the user would not need scroll the bar to read the contents of the
whole table.
However he might find it difficult to read the text in the table. That
could happen for example if he uses a little screen which shows very small
"smaller letters". So, I wonder whether I could have set a min-width to
prevent the letters from being too small...
Could I set different stylesheets depending on screen resolution without
using javascript?

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

You could also set different stylesheets depending on screen
resolution.

What does screen resolution have to do with the size of my browser
window?

Check this out:

http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/style-sheets-by-resolution.html

<quote>
if (screen.width == 640) {
document.write('<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
href="640.css">');
//alert("Style Sheet for 640 x 480 would have been loaded.");
</quote>

Etcetera. My screen/monitor is none of the sizes mentioned. What style
sheet will I get? What style sheet will I get when JavaScript is not
available?

 

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

Sorry, perhaps my explanation was not very good...
Here is a another try.
I was not talkning about images in the tables but about tables which do not
contain images such as the ones on the page
https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/it/svezia.html
In order to prevent the tables from overflowing I could set font-size:
smaller;
only for the content in the table or in a certain table.
This way the user would not need scroll the bar to read the contents of the
whole table.
However he might find it difficult to read the text in the table. That
could happen for example if he uses a little screen which shows very small
"smaller letters". So, I wonder whether I could have set a min-width to
prevent the letters from being too small...

Scrolling is the lesser of two evils. If the text is too small, it
is unreadable.

Could I set different stylesheets depending on screen resolution without
using javascript?

You need a function of the screen resolution, the window size,
the monitor size, and the reader's eyesight. Unless you have all
of that information, don't bother trying.

 

[Nick Theodorakis]

Allow me to play devil's advocate here, though I'm quite sure will
probably generate the same ol' black-and-white bantering...

In my experience (which for reference goes back to the pre-Mosaic days)
the vast - and I DO mean VAST - majority of people have no idea that
this is even possible, much less HOW to do it.

IIRC an early version of Netscape used to have prominent buttons on the
toolbar for changing text size, but I digress.

Let's grant your assumption -- that most users don't know how to change
the default text size. A number of those users are likely to have
poorer vision than you (and this number will likely grow as the
web-using population ages). If you reduce the font size for main text,
you may well likely make it hard or impossible for those users to read
your text, especially if they don't know how to change their browser
settings. What is worse, having text that may appear to be "too big" for
sharp-eyed people that don't know how to adjust their browser, or having
text that is unreadable for poor-sighted people that don't know how to
adjust their browser?

Nick

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

Scrolling is the lesser of two evils. If the text is too small, it
is unreadable.


You need a function of the screen resolution, the window size,
the monitor size, and the reader's eyesight. Unless you have all
of that information, don't bother trying.

So, what about providing a link to another page with a larger table and
display a little table on the page?
A table displayed by "small letters" would be displayed on large screen
anyway and those who use a little browser window could use the link instead.

 

[Toby Inkster]

IIRC an early version of Netscape used to have prominent buttons on the
toolbar for changing text size, but I digress.

YDNRC. Netscape has never included toolbar buttons for changing font size.
In fact, increase/decrease font size was only added to the menu in version
4. Before that, one had to go into the Preferences dialogue box.

OTOH, Internet Explorer has had font size buttons on its toolbar since
version 2. In version 2, there were separate buttons to increase and
decrease size. In version 3 this became a single button that toggled
between five sizes. In version 4 the feature disappeared. In 5, the IE
toolbar became configurable, and a font size button (which activates a
drop down list of the five sizes) was added to the pool of available
buttons, but not shown by default -- and it's still there in the IE 7
betas.

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

It is amazing what folk will put up with

Surely. Should we therefore make them suffer more?

and website
makers on the whole tend to use less than 100%.

Really? Did you actually conduct a survey, or is this your impression? The
impression is most probably wrong, since so many pages use _fixed_ font
sizes, which might be smaller than your browser's basic font size, or some
common default font size in browsers, but it's still a completely different
issue - even though it may look similar.

We have three groups of pages in this respect:
1) no font size setting, or font size set to 100% or 1em, which is more or
less the same thing
2) font size set to a percentage other than 100% (or em value other than
1em)
3) font size set in fixed units (px, pc, pt, mm, whatever)
I'm pretty sure that group 2) does not constitute more than 50% of all pages
(and some of them set the font size larger than 100%).

This has consequences.

Everything has.

One of them is that there would be a tendency for
browsers to be set either by default or by a technician at what
makes most sites comfortable viewing.

I thought you thought that the great majority does not touch the font
settings of their browsers at all. So I don't quite follow your reasoning.

When the good guys use
100%, it looks oddly big to a lot of people.

Perhaps. I prefer looking "oddly big" to looking foolishly small - and
unreadable to hundreds of millions of people at least if they don't know how
to set the font size in their browsers.

Have you _ever_ seen or read a genuine user's complain about too large font
size on a web page? Compare this with the actual complaints about too small
sizes.

"Oddly big" is what designers themselves find as objectionable.

 

[Luigi Donatello Asero]

"Chaddy2222" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet

Hello,

Hi.

I am wondering whether there is a way to set a min font-size.
Lets say that I set
font-size: smaller; for a certain table class, how would I prevent the
text from being so little that they cannot be read on a narrow computer
screen?
Could I set a min font-size?
Or perhaps had I better provide a link to another page with a large table?

Hmmmm.
I as a rule of thumb would use font-size set to medium, to make it
readable, it's worth mentioning though that font-size set to "smaller"
is generally harder to read.

I did not mean to set to "smaller" the font-size of the whole page but only
the font-size in the tables which overflow and then provide a link written
in normal font-size to another page written in normal font-size where you
could read the tables.
See http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/font-size

Though it would be better not to use the font-size tags in HTML at all,
define them as a % in your CSS file.

While writing about setting the font-size to "smaller" I meant to define it
in an external style sheet for the tables which are on the page
https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/it/svezia.html