Q. What is the tiniest font out there for IE or Word for that matter?

[Jim Jones]

Hi,

I think I saw reference to my question in another thread, but I'm not
sure. Please pardon any redundancy.

I want to make a web page.
Not understand sure how it selects the default font to use, I want to
see, as an experiement, which one is the tiniest font of all.

Is the only way to decrease a font size on my published page to use
the <font size> Tag? If so, which is the tiniest that IE 6 will use?

Is it arial, which, in Word anyway has a font size of 8 ?

Of, is it some other where I can go as low as <font size=-10> ?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[David Dorward]

Not understand sure how it selects the default font to use

By looking at the user preferences.

Is the only way to decrease a font size on my published page to use
the <font size> Tag? If so, which is the tiniest that IE 6 will use?

Is it arial, which, in Word anyway has a font size of 8 ?

Arial does not have a font size of "8". Arial has a font size of whatever
you configure your software to use.

Of, is it some other where I can go as low as <font size=-10> ?

No. The means 10 steps smaller then the current font size, and there are
only 7 steps in total (in that obsolete and badly designed way of
specifying font size).

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

I want to make a web page.

Then do so. Ignore fonts. Your page might or might not be rendered
visually; it's nothing to worry about, until you have some purpose,
structure, and actual content. And it's not a big issue after that
either, since the real possibilities for useful styling are rather
limited.

Not understand sure how it selects the default font to use,

Browsers do that their own ways. Stop worrying.

I want to
see, as an experiement, which one is the tiniest font of all.

And what, if I may ask, would you do with results of this experiment?

Is the only way to decrease a font size on my published page to use
the <font size> Tag?
No.

If so, which is the tiniest that IE 6 will use?

In HTML, the smallest you can specify is <font size="1">.

In CSS, font-size: 0. People cannot read the text if this setting is
applied, but wasn't illegibility what you were looking for. With _quite_
some imagination, Verdana might be legible at font-size: 4px, but this is
really a bad joke.

Michael Everson claims that Everson Mono http://www.evertype.com/emono/
is "quite legible at sizes as small as 4 points" (which effective means
5px, typically). I suppose that's the limit, or beyond the limit.

Normally 9px is the lower limit for readability - to the minority of
people who have good eyesight, good external conditions for viewing, and
a font that is fairly readable at that size. For a general audience,
10pt or 14px is the reasonable limit _if_ some army forces you to fix
font size (or you publish on paper, not on the Web).

Is it arial, which, in Word anyway has a font size of 8 ?

The question does not parse. But fonts of size 8pt surely exist. This
typically means 10px.

Of, is it some other where I can go as low as <font size=-10> ?

There is no <font size=-10>. Anything you might see is just your
browser's wild reaction to incorrect markup.

 

[Grahammer]

In CSS, font-size: 0. People cannot read the text if this setting is

applied, but wasn't illegibility what you were looking for. With _quite_
some imagination, Verdana might be legible at font-size: 4px, but this is
really a bad joke.

Michael Everson claims that Everson Mono http://www.evertype.com/emono/
is "quite legible at sizes as small as 4 points" (which effective means
5px, typically). I suppose that's the limit, or beyond the limit.

Normally 9px is the lower limit for readability - to the minority of
people who have good eyesight, good external conditions for viewing, and
a font that is fairly readable at that size. For a general audience,
10pt or 14px is the reasonable limit _if_ some army forces you to fix
font size (or you publish on paper, not on the Web).

Anything specified in PX size will be too small to read on my setup. Fonts
should be specified in PT size, or better yet, in relative sizes (ie,
"smaller", "larger")

The question does not parse. But fonts of size 8pt surely exist. This
typically means 10px.

Only on your system 8pt on my system is closer to 14px.

Anyone who codes a site using a specific font size (ie, using PX) just
doesn't have a clue as to why the web exists in the first place.

 

[brucie]

in post: <

Fonts should be specified in PT size,

absolute crap.

or better yet, in relative sizes (ie, "smaller", "larger")

browsers have incorrect, inconsistent and buggy implementation of font
keywords. use ems (buggy in IE) or % if at all.

Anyone who codes a site using a specific font size (ie, using PX)

or pt

just doesn't have a clue as to why the web exists in the first place.

everyone knows its to spread misinformation and pestilence

 

[Grahammer]

in post: <

absolute crap.


browsers have incorrect, inconsistent and buggy implementation of font
keywords. use ems (buggy in IE) or % if at all.


or pt


everyone knows its to spread misinformation and pestilence

Nice criticism, now WHY is it wrong?

 

[Mark Parnell]

Nice criticism, now WHY is it wrong?

Text size specified in pt, like px, cannot be resized in WinIE. Both pt
and px are rendered differently on different platforms and in different
browsers. Neither are suitable for the web anyway.

As brucie said, the font size keywords are badly implemented in various
browsers.

Em is buggy in IE, though that can easily be fixed. % works fine. Both
em and % are relative to the user's chosen font size, making them ideal
for the web.

The best solution in most cases is simply not to specify font size at
all, except for things you want slightly larger than normal, or perhaps
a copyright line you want at e.g. 90%. Beyond that, leave it up to the
user's settings.

 

[brucie]

in post: <

Nice criticism, now WHY is it wrong?

what mark said except with more jokes, swearing/name calling and a poke
with my pointy stick.

and a few links
http://www.w3.org/2003/07/30-font-size
http://css.nu/articles/font-analogy.html
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020819.html
http://www.mcu.org.uk/articles/accessibletext.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/fontsize.html
http://www.lighthouse.org/bigtype/exhibit_highlights.htm

 

[Grahammer]

Text size specified in pt, like px, cannot be resized in WinIE. Both pt
and px are rendered differently on different platforms and in different
browsers. Neither are suitable for the web anyway.

Oops! My bad... I just assumed that by specifing in PT that the page WOULD
be scalable in IE.

As brucie said, the font size keywords are badly implemented in various
browsers.

Not sure it makes a difference, but I'm referring to the font-size CSS

Em is buggy in IE, though that can easily be fixed. % works fine. Both
em and % are relative to the user's chosen font size, making them ideal
for the web.

The best solution in most cases is simply not to specify font size at
all, except for things you want slightly larger than normal, or perhaps
a copyright line you want at e.g. 90%. Beyond that, leave it up to the
user's settings.

This I agree completely with. There are so many websites out there right now
that waste 2/3's of my browsers width to blank space, and use such tiny
fonts, that they are impossible to use.

 

[Grahammer]

in post: <

what mark said except with more jokes, swearing/name calling and a poke
with my pointy stick.
Ouch!

and a few links
http://www.w3.org/2003/07/30-font-size
http://css.nu/articles/font-analogy.html
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020819.html
http://www.mcu.org.uk/articles/accessibletext.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/fontsize.html
http://www.lighthouse.org/bigtype/exhibit_highlights.htm

My bad... for some reason I had it in my head that PT would resize in IE.

I do believe in setting a specific type font for a specific task, but only
it's typeface, not its size.

 

[brucie]

in post: <

My bad... for some reason I had it in my head that PT would resize in IE.

i think its slated for inclusion in version 12

I do believe in setting a specific type font for a specific task, but only
it's typeface, not its size.

or you could just specify the generic family so you get to keep the look
you want and the visitor gets their preferred font for that family.

 

[David Dorward]

Anything specified in PX size will be too small to read on my setup.

If font-size: 500px is too small to read on your set up... I want your
monitor and graphics card