[thelist] A pixel is not a pixel

noah noah at tookish.net
Thu Jun 14 14:30:38 CDT 2001


At 02:10 PM 14/06/2001 -0500, Arlen.P.Walker at jci.com wrote:
>This is all possible now. But the problem is that when I set my small type
>on the web to 75%, and Charles cruises by, his monitor cannot faithfully
>reproduce type that small, so he doesn't get to read the incredible
>fantasically funny footnotes I set in small type.
>
>A "minimum-font-size" attribute would let me create a stylesheet that tries
>to maintain the typographic harmony, but gives up all pretense of doing
>this if the type size would drop below my specified effective viewing size.
>Likewise, I could set such an attribute in my browser to override
>eagle-eyed designers who are under the delusion that I'm able to read print
>that looks more to me like pepper spilled on a formica countertop.

That, I think, is the key  A minimum font size is something that should be 
implemented in the browser, not in stylesheets. Otherwise stylesheets will 
have to try to detect the platform, the browser, the resolution, etc. in a 
(likely fruitless) attempt to weigh all the factors that contribute to font 
size.

Cheers,

Noah





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