font-size Progress

Does anyone have a guess why on screen, in MSIE 4.0 Mac, pt, pc,
in, cm, and mm display relative to the user setting? Also, smaller
and larger are absolute sizes, as these two were in 3.01a, except
now larger is 14 point. Maybe most interesting in IE4-Mac, when
set in BODY, 1em, 100%, and medium are 14 point, up two points from
3.01a. Apparently this work is partly finished. Maybe it indicates
a chance for a 12 point base font-size in coming versions of IE?

My test results don't yet include IE4, but here are a few findings [1].

    The CSS1 Recommendation and CSS2 work in progress say, "On
    a computer screen a scaling factor of 1.5 is suggested
    between adjacent indexes; if the 'medium' font is 10pt, the
    'large' font could be 15pt...."  Looking at the
    small end from a Macintosh, 67% and .67em are too small....
    10pt seems too small to be an equivalent to medium on screen.

    The Macintosh shipping default Netscape Navigator font,
    Times 12 point, cannot be legible in Netscape browsers with
    style enabled, when scaled to the CSS size smaller, or
    values less than 75%, or less than .75em. Less than 75% or
    less than .75em is also illegible in Microsoft Internet
    Explorer set to Times at medium, small, or smallest.

    x-small and xx-small are illegible in Netscape Navigator
    for Macintosh, apparently no matter what user font and size
    settings are chosen.

[1] http://www.macvirus.com/test/font/

Susan Lesch

Received on Tuesday, 13 January 1998 14:57:18 UTC