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What do you think...too small?
I prefer to set *no* default text size, and use ems to make things like headers bigger than the default. This lets the user easily zoom the text to a desired size.
1. Shouldn't Times New Roman be in quotes: "Times New Roman"?
2. 13px doesn't sound too small and I do agree with what dr.brain on ems.
However, isn't time Times New Roman a font more suitable for print design? You might want to go with a Verdana, Arial, Georgia or something like that.
Yes, but that's what I'm trying to emulate --a two-column print layout.
Both Times and Verdana look okay, it's just that the bigger the point-size I use, the worse the kerning looks.
I'm looking at this on a 20-inch [T]rinitron at 1024 X 768 and the size looks barely acceptable --but, golly-gee, the kerning looks great!
I guess you can't have everything.
drBrain - what resolution are you running?
<added> Text is two-column, justified. Thus, the kerning problem.
[edited by: jk3210 at 12:12 am (utc) on Aug. 3, 2004]
especially when they can't override it because it's done with CSS
Sizing in EMs solves this problem. Go a step further and size your text containers in EMs (like buttons and such) and you've got a fully scalable layout.
If you like using pixels, a great way to make the transition to EMs is to set the default font size in the body rule declaration to 62.8%. This makes it so that one EM equals (okay, roughly equals) 10 pixels. Makes emulating those PX font sizes very easy. 13px = 1.3em. Simple, scalable, accessible.
I'm trying to emulate --a two-column print layout.
The suggestion to use a sans-serif font instead of a serif one (like Times) isn't arbitrary. You may be trying to emulate a print design, but reading a computer screen is very different from reading a piece of paper. Sans-serif fonts arn't just 'better,' they're easier to read on screen. If you're going to use a small font size (and I happen to think 13px is fairly large, actually. I routinely set <h2> or <h3> tags to 14px (well, 1.4em)), I think it's imperative that you ease the strain on your users eyes by going with a sans-serif font.
If you like using pixels, a great way to make the transition to EMs is to set the default font size in the body rule declaration to 62.8%. This makes it so that one EM equals (okay, roughly equals) 10 pixels. Makes emulating those PX font sizes very easy. 13px = 1.3em. Simple, scalable, accessible.
Thanx! Good stuff to know. My only argument for using px now is that browsers like safari has a smaller default text size. On the other hand - safari is capable of resizing the text even if the size is set in px in the stylesheet.
