[thelist] Small Type

[Ben Henick]

On Mon, 31 Dec 2001, Moe Rubenzahl wrote:

> What is the smallest type spec that will render legibly in most browsers?
>
> I have used Helvetica-Arial-Sans in size=2 or size=-1 for things I
> want people to be able to read or

Note also that (font_size=1 && text_size=smallest) in IE is illegible in
most environments.

The numbers get smaller in most environments, but if you're shooting for
two standard deviations of the population when it comes to lebility,
giftext and the like (e.g. anti-aliased) should have excellent contrast, a
size of at least 14px, and leading of at least 17px (as measured by
Photoshop).

I rarely do anything below 9px unless it's a result of relative sizing...
and try to leave at least SOME way to make the type bigger even in
browsers that deny the opportunity in the face of absolute sizing.


-- 
Ben Henick
Web Author At-Large              Managing Editor
http://www.io.com/persist1/      http://www.digital-web.com/
persist1 at io.com                  bmh at digital-web.com
--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?"
"I think so, Brain, but... (snort) no, no, it's too stupid."
"We will disguise ourselves as a cow."
"Oh!" (giggles) "That was it exactly!"