[WEB4LIB] Re: font sins-CSS

[Thomas Dowling]

> Thomas mentioned the font size sin, which prompts me to ask you
> about font sizes in CSS. I've always designed using the <FONT SIZE
> +1> tag so headings and the like will be "bigger" relative to the
> user's default preferences.  I'm getting some pressure to go to CSS
> and quit using the relative <font size -1> tags, partly because that
> tag is deprecated.  However, I don't believe the absolute values are
> "better".

[You should probably set your mail client to break long lines at something
under 80 characters.]

The <font> tag is deprecated because it doesn't describe any part of the
document's structure.  It's also woefully underpowered.  If you've got
headings, *call* them headings.  You've got a six-level hierarchy of them
to work with, H1 through H6.  Then if you want to (and making sure you
check for Netscape 4's notorious misimplementations) you can use CSS to
tweak the appearance of those headers.

Forget about +1, -1, etc.  Due to differences in the ways browsers
implemented CSS, whatever relationship there might have been never took
root.  BUT...it is the relative font sizes available in CSS that you want
to use: em and percentages, larger and smaller.  Absolute font sizes in
points, or worse in pixels, pose accessibility problems and should be
avoided.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu