[thelist] CSS: Unix and font sizes

Hassan Schroeder hassan at webtuitive.com
Fri Apr 13 13:40:08 CDT 2001


Chris Evans wrote:
> 
> I decided to go with px to determine my font sizes in CSS.  Everything looks
> good on both Mac and Win, NS and IE.  On NS on Linux and Solaris (gotta
> target that hidden, deep-pocketed Solaris crowd, ya know!), the font is
> teensy-tiny.  I've seen this on other sites as well.  Is there a way to get
> NS/UNIX to size fonts correctly, or do I have to provide a separate style
> sheet for UNIX?

Are you sure this is an operating system issue, or is it the screen
resolution? Most workstations have higher-res monitors than typical
PCs. 

/* I do a lot of work in a Solaris environment, and yes, a lot of
   public sites with hard-coded font sizes are essentially unusable
   on a Sun workstation.

   When you find yourself using "View Source" to figure out what a
   Web site says ...  
 */

I'd suggest either sniffing the *monitor resolution*, if you must 
use explicit sizes, or (better) using the CSS relative font sizes 
("xx-large" - "xx-small") which scale appropriately to the platform 
*and* the user's font preferences (bonus points for accessibility!).

FWIW!
-- 
H*
Hassan Schroeder ----------------------------- hassan at webtuitive.com 
Webtuitive Design ---(+1) 408-938-0567 --- http://www.webtuitive.com

    -- creating dynamic Web sites and applications since 1994 --




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