[thelist] Font Sizing

> Or to save yourself massive amounts of time (although you
> will lose out in the "Using technology for no particular benefit
> other than to look kewl" prize), don't use fixed font sizing.
>
> No cookies, no PHP, no nothing required.

True. crappy looking websites come cheap. Good point.

But.. hey! surprise surprise! In my professional experience clients actually
like it when they have a website that is attractive, well-organized and
communicates aesthetically to their audience. Wow! who would have guessed?

I think the time spent on as you put it "Using technology for no particular
benefit other than to look kewl" can result in sites that look/feel polished
and professional. And by the way if it takes you "massive amounts of time"
to design a few alternate stylesheets and link to them using simple
technology, thats *your* problem.

Designers will never be happy with the current state of CSS when it comes to
how different UA's render relative units. And we SHOUDN'T be. Its a terribly
frustrating thing to deal with.

> Yes - that's the medium. Even if you don't know about it, it
> happens anyway. If I'm using your site and specify that the
> site will use my stylesheet (with high contrast colours and
> type the size I can read it), not yours, then that's your tough
> luck.

No problem, but lets be honest- most users out their do not specify a
stylesheet in that way... (and it's my opinion that is a very silly thing to
do unless you have specific requirements-- most decently designed sites look
better when you let the page render with the fonts/sizes/ the designer
chose). So if I would rather target the majority rather than a select few,
why wouldn't I spec my own fonts, etc?

My point, is that you should consider you audience, and design accordingly.
When its appropriate/beneficial, I design sites that use relative units,
that validate html/CSS/and AAA bobby (something your site claims but does
not deliver, btw). Other times, I use flash, or tables. It really depends on
who you are trying to reach, and how much work the project will allow.
Because, lets face it, full-CSS designs take a lot more work, if they are to
be well-designed.

CSS, relative font units, etc have such wonderful potential, but right now,
in the real world (not the academic fantasy that so many CSS advocates seem
to live in), designers have to deal with technology that is not living up to
its potential.... and that means some situations are gonna call for creative
approaches.

:: john-paul
:: music :: http://www.mmodule.com
:: collective :: http://www.four09.org

> From: Martin <martin@members.evolt.org>
> Reply-To: thelist@lists.evolt.org
> Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 21:29:58 +0100
> To: thelist@lists.evolt.org
> Subject: Re: [thelist] Font Sizing
>
>
> On Monday, May 6, 2002, at 08:24  pm, john-paul wrote:
>
>> One possible solution, might be to design with px, but to create a few
>> different stylesheets, (small, medium, large). Have an area where the
>> users
>> can set preferences for size and use cookies/php/whatever to link to the
>> correct stylesheet based on the user settings....
>
> Or to save yourself massive amounts of time (although you
> will lose out in the "Using technology for no particular benefit
> other than to look kewl" prize), don't use fixed font sizing.
>
> No cookies, no PHP, no nothing required.
>
> Cheers
> Martin
> _______________________________________________
> email: martin@easyweb.co.uk             PGP ID:    0xA835CCCB
> martin@members.evolt.org      snailmail:    30 Shandon Place
> tel:    +44 (0)774 063 9985                Edinburgh,
> url:    http://www.easyweb.co.uk            Scotland
>
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