Customer wants huge fonts so he can see it.

not considering users, just him...how do I explain it?

[Terabytes]

Quick background...

New site, owner is elderly, doesn't like "standard" font sizes because he can't read it...

Customer wants all his content in "HUGE" font sizes so that he can read it...

<point>it looks like trash</point>

He likes it...he hopes to make a few bucks on it...

nobody (I doubt) will have any confidence in a site that looks like it's for kindergardener's...

I don't want to hurt his feelings, I've brought up the issue "mildly" to him on other occasions, however, we're getting ready to go live, and it's just "wrong"...

any suggestions as to what line to follow to make him understand how this looks to others?

Thanks!
you guys ROCK!

[larryhatch]

It sounds like you summed it up nicely.
Unless the owner's senses have deteriorated as much as his eyesight, he should follow your reasoning.
Failing that, just do what he wants, WITH the warning that kindergarten sites do very poorly. -Larry

[victor]

Slip in a personal / user CSS file on his hard drive with just one line in it:

(WMW software seems to eliminate the space before the exclaimation mark...You'll need to re-insert it):

* {font-size: 25pt!important;}

Point his browser to it (method varies by browser -- have a hunt around in tools or accessibility or some such menu).

Presto! He now sees all websites that big. Meanwhile, you can design his with the usual fluid font sizes.

If his vision is really poor and he needs higher contrast, you can do him an all-over favor by making it something like:

* {font-size: 25pt!important;
color: yellow!important;
background-color: black!important;
font-family: serif!important;
}

[Demaestro]

I would place links into the skin that allow the user to select their font size of choice.

****
Text Size:
(s) (m) (l)
****

This type of thing.

I have placed this onto a few sites, the links just call in overriding css classes that have a bigger font definitions. This will accomodate not just your client but his audience as well.

[Demaestro]

Also any chance of sneaking onto his computer and jacking up the font size in his browser settings, or even asking him to do it?

That way ever site he goes to can have HUGE font.

[rich_b]

Demaestro has given you the answer but I just wanted to add an important tip to help out. Your client should be increasing the default size of the font in his browser (via the View menu / Text Size). What you should then do is specify your font sizes in units of Em - not pixels. That way your text will increase (or decrease) in size depending upon the browser setting for 'text size'.

[BananaFish]

Use em font size and then he can adjust the font size on his own computer. On windows this is located in the display properties.