Text Size Matrix

comparing elements such as +1, px, pt, ems, pica.....

[ukgimp]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I am looking for a matrix of html text sizes. I am looking to change absolute fonts on a website in keeping with accessibilty and need to find a comparison chart so that I can keep the text the same size for the majority of browsers.

TIA

Cheers

[c3oc3o]

[thenoodleincident.com...]
[thenoodleincident.com...]

[developer.apple.com...]
[developer.apple.com...]

[ukgimp]

Thanks c3oc3o

[Nick_W]

Just use em's ukgimp. Easiest solution.

Nick

[ukgimp]

Did give that some thought, but dont you get some problems with ems going micro size in some circumstances?

Cheers

[Nick_W]

Yes, because they are relative font sizes.

If you have a div that specifies .9em and then have a <p> inside that div with class that specifies .8em you get .8em of .9em.

As long as you're aware of this (it's not a fault, it's supposed to work that way) there is no problem.

Nick

[ukgimp]

Makes sense and is not as complicated as I first thought.

thanks Nick

[rewboss]

Actually, many browsers running on Macs tend to make em sizes too small. I believe the latest browsers have got their acts together in this respect.

I've found font sizes to be very incompatible across browsers and platforms. .7em and 70%, for instance, should theoretically be the same size -- namely, 70% of the current size -- yet the same browser often gives different results. px seems to give the most cross-browser-friendly solution, which is counter-intuitive (you'd think it would be the worst solution).

pt, pc, in and cm should not really be used for on-screen presentation: they are for print.

[ukgimp]

The site I am working on already uses px but there are some very strict accessiblity guidelines that it has to adhere to and fixed fonts are big no no. Hence the reason for the change, I just wanted to keep the size as close as possble for as many browsers for aethestic reasons really.

Cheers

[rewboss]

Yes, I used to think that px sizes were fixed, too. Apparently, for fonts, that's not necessarily so.

[ukgimp]

I used to think that px sizes were fixed, too. Apparently, for fonts, that's not necessarily so

Care to explain Rewboss. As far as it goes for me px as pt seems to be set in stone.

puzzled

Cheers

[c3oc3o]

I think it depends on the browser, if I remember correctly on IE5/mac you can change the size no matter what it was defined as.. but in IE5/win and IE6, you can definitely not change px font sizes (except if you override the site's stylesheet or something...)

Edit:
After reading red's post again, I think he just means that he expected px to be consistent across platforms, not to be changeable in the browser.
I believe that has to do with the Mac using a different screen resolution than Windows (72dpi vs 96dpi?). But that's a complicated topic ;) See the developer.apple.com link I posted above.