Site: set base font size to 1em for all site schemes

[ninetydegrees]

Title:
Site: set base font size to 1em for all site schemes

Area:
site schemes

Summary:
In Tropospherical (i.e. the default site scheme) the font size is currently set to .75em, which, imo, is very small. Set it to 1em instead so that it uses browsers' defaults.

Description:
I have to set a minimum font size in my browser to be able to read some sites and I wish Dreamwidth weren't one of them.

N.B. For technical info, body is set to 100% but #canvas is set to 0.75em. In effect, all content in Tropo uses this size as a base.

Poll #2869 Site: set base font size to 1em for all site schemes

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
43 (79.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
3 (5.6%)

(I have no opinion)
8 (14.8%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[jadelennox]

I think of this as an accessibility issue. On the other hand, go us for using em.

[msilverstar]

That might explain the problems I've been having when I up the font size in Tropospherical. Indented replies tend to get cropped on the right side. If that's not it, I will write this up as a bug or suggestion.

[mskala]

In typesetting, ems are only properly used for horizontal distances. I'm aware that the relevant w3C standard claims they can be used for vertical distances too, but it's bad practice. Could we please set it to "100%" or some other appropriate unit instead of any number of ems?

[ninetydegrees]

I don't really understand what you mean here. How setting the font size to 1em is going to affect vertical distances? Or do you mean line-height?

[mskala]

Font size is a vertical distance. It shouldn't be measured in ems. I don't mean line height, though that is also vertical.

[ninetydegrees]

You're right, of course.
That would mean rewriting (rethinking?) the whole scheme because almost everything is done in em. Widths, heights, margins, paddings, indents, etc. are in ems. Same thing for other site schemes. Same things for *all* the official layouts DW has (and a recent patch set all font bases to 1em for these as well).
I'm not against it. You obviously know more about this than I do but I think this should be a separate suggestion. Unless I misunderstand what you're saying.

[mskala]

Well, I'm not sure it has to go quite that far... things like indentation are properly measured in ems, and if they already are, great. If the designer really wants the horizontal and vertical margins on a page to be the same, maybe it makes sense to specify those both in ems even though that breaks "don't use ems for vertical." (I'd prefer to use a unit like inches.) Even if there are many places where it really ought to be changed from ems to something else, if it's more or less working right now, there's not much point investing the time to go through changing it just to comply with a formal typesetting rule.

However: since the present suggestion is that we should change something, I think we should change it to be right instead of changing it to be less wrong. I think that'd mean setting "100%" as the base size instead of any number of ems. It looks to me like that should have the same effect that you were hoping would come from setting it to "1em."

[ninetydegrees]

Actually, removing the line which resets the size to 1em means the 100% rule set in body will be used. :)

[trixtah]

Whether we use ems or 100%, I really loathe any style/site that tries to tell me how large I should set my fonts. If a style facilitates embiggening or shrinking, wonderful, but don't set it for me.