[WEB4LIB] "SMALL" HTML problem

[James Cayz]

On Fri, 11 Feb 2000, Stacy Pober wrote:
>I'm making an HTML document from an Excel spreadsheet of our library's
>periodical holdings.  I formatted it into a dictionary list. The file
>displays fine in Internet Explorer, but in Netscape 3.04 and Netscape
>4.61, the font changes back to the default font after entries with ISSN
>numbers. 
> [...]
>
>Here's a short test file that displays the problem.  If you have any
>suggestions, please send them along!
>
> [...]
>-- 
>Stacy Pober, Information Alchemist
>Manhattan College Libraries
>spober at manhattan.edu
>http://www.manhattan.edu/library/

Stacy,

Umm, <small> does not equal <font size=-2> or <font size={anything}>.

As defined by W3 in the 4.01 (most current) "standard":
(http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/present/graphics.html#edef-SMALL)
 - - - - 
Rendering of font style elements depends on the user agent. The following
is an informative description only.
		[...]
              SMALL: Renders text in a "small" font. 
 - - - -

Note that it says "Renders text in a 'small' font", and not "Renders text
in a smaller font size".

So, in essence, <small> is both a font face and size change, to whatever
the browser thinks is best for it.  And </small> wouldn't know what to
change it back to, other than the standard font.

It looks like you want <font size=2> for your application.

James

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