- From: Gérard Talbot <info@gtalbot.org>
- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:41:08 -0500
- To: "Ian Jacobs" <ij@w3.org>
- Cc: "James Hopkins" <james@idreamincode.co.uk>, "Felix Miata" <mrmazda@earthlink.net>, "www-style@w3.org" <www-style@w3.org>, "site-comments@w3.org" <site-comments@w3.org>
> (...) after discussion with a number > of designers, and from numerous articles on the topic, I realize it is not that straightforward. > > Here's a summary of the approach we have taken: > > * We do set a default font size, but it's not as small as what the > most common font size seems to be. My previous email had one link problem. " Browsers allow the user to set a default font size which will be applied to any font that is not given an explicit size by the displayed page. (...) If you do not specify any font size at all (as on the pages you are reading), text will appear in the default size that was selected by the user. " Truth & Consequences of web site design: Font size by Chris Beal http://pages.prodigy.net/chris_beall/TC/Font%20size.html More links and relevant quotes on this issue: " (...) site's font sizes are fixed and can't be resized. " coming from Checklist of Bad Web Design: Checklist 2 82 Potential Mortal Sins http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/does-my-web-site-suck/does-my-web-site-suck-checklist-part-two.html " (...) 3.2 Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size? Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values' Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - checkpoint 3.4 More: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - checkpoint 3.4 How to size text using ems 3.3 Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased? " coming from Web standards checklist by Russ Weakley 13-August-04 Web standards - more than just 'table-free sites' http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/checklist.htm#section3-2 Dive Into Accessibility: 30 days to a more accessible web site Day 26: Using relative font sizes http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_26_using_relative_font_sizes.html " (...) CSS style sheets unfortunately give websites the power to disable a Web browser's 'change font size' button and specify a fixed font size. About 95% of the time, this fixed size is tiny, reducing readability significantly for most people over the age of 40. " coming from Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design (1996) 5. Fixed Font Size http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html " Do not use absolute font sizes in your style sheets. Code font sizes in relative terms, typically using percentages such as 120% for big text and 90% for small text. Make your default font size reasonably big (at least 10 point) so that very few users have to resort to manual overrides. " [disclaimer: I may not necessarly agree with J. Nielsen's 10 point minimum threshold here] coming from Let Users Control Font Size http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020819.html " For this year's list of worst design mistakes, I decided to try something new: I asked readers of my newsletter to nominate the usability problems they found the most irritating. (...) 1. Legibility Problems Bad fonts won the vote by a landslide, getting almost twice as many votes as the #2 mistake. About two-thirds of the voters complained about small font sizes or frozen font sizes; about one-third complained about low contrast between text and background. " Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005, Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/alertbox/designmistakes.html " (...) Don't use small text. Designers are also fond of using small text (especially on Flash sites). Hey, we're all getting older and as I often say, 'If people can't see it, they will flee it.' " coming from Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015 by Vincent Flanders http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/biggest-mistakes-in-web-design-1995-2015.html " (...) Myth #8: People should view a Web site the way the designer intended -------------------------------------------------------------------- False. People cannot view a Web site the way the designer intended, unless the designer intended for the site to be viewed differently. With all the different browsers, window sizes, fonts, font sizes, resolutions, color depths, and other user preferences on the Web, it is simply impossible to have a document look the same to all users. People should view Web sites the way *they wish* to view them. " coming from Web Design Group: Accessibility Myths Myth #8: People should view a Web site the way the designer intended http://htmlhelp.com/design/accessibility/myths.html Gérard Talbot
Received on Monday, 30 November 2009 22:41:52 UTC