font size problems

The problem likely arises from a combination of the browser these people are using, which fonts they have installed, their monitor resolution, and your stylesheet.

The easiest solution, if you care about the readability of your site, is to stop specifying your font sizes in pixels (which are not scalable in IE) and start using percent or ems (there’s lots of information about this on the web).

Pixels are great when your have a site whose layout would be broken by users resizing the text, but that shouldn’t be a problem in your site. When I increased the size of the font in Firefox the site still worked fine.

actually the easiest solution is to just up the font size in your theme’s stylesheet

if its the site in your profile, look in your themes stylesheet and adjust the font size in this section

body {
	font: 11px Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;
	background: #000000;
	color: #ffffff;
	margin: 0;
	}

change 11px to 12 or 13px, whatever size suits you.

Setting the base font using *EMs* is preferable. Here are some links discussing base font sizing and usage of ems rather than px, for accessibility (which is what your readers are complaining about). ??

https://www.maratz.com/blog/archives/2005/10/21/typetesters-base-font-size/
https://blue-anvil.com/archives/going-elastic-with-ems-layout-techniques

dont you think the EM talk is a little over the head of the original poster? if they cant figure out how to change the font size of their theme, do you really think they are going to be able to convert it all to EMs? they arent like px, where you just set a number you want. you have to set the base size, then do calculated percentage based changes for everything else.

help and advice is useless unless you keep it at the level of the user.

Well if we keep things at the level of the user, he won’t learn a thing, will he?

Jesus, Boober, most people aren’t complete idiots. And I don’t think that article was SO TECHNICAL that it is beyond the comprehension of most people. I assume if the OP or anyone else reading it has a question about it, they’ll ask. And then I’ll clarify. But it is stunningly audacious of you to blithely assume that everyone coming here for help is a complete idiot.

And if it’s worth learning, it’s worth learning to do CORRECTLY. Declaring a base font size in ems or any other measurement still allows you to declare percentages elsewhere. So what’s so hard about it?

im not saying the OP is an idiot, but why tell him how to build a house when all he needs to do is move the furniture around? not everyone who comes here has the desire to learn to become a web designer. some people just want to blog.

What good is his blog if people can’t read it. It doesn’t take that much more effort to learn to do something right. If you are going to have a web site, you should learn the basics, and that, as far as I’m concerned, is basic. It certainly isn’t rocket science. If I wanted to tell him the web design equivalent of how to build a house, I surely wouldn’t stop with scalable font sizing. ??

I can’t believe you think its necessary for him to overhaul his whole theme with EMs instead of just changing ONE number. Like I said, some people just want to blog. Your designer snobbery does them no good. One way WordPress kicks major ass is specifically because its so user friendly that non designers and non web gurus can have huge control over their own site. There’s no need to try and make people feel like they ‘should’ know things like EM percentage based font sizes just to share their info with the world.

Rediculous.

Oh for crying out loud, because you don’t practice it or understand it makes it design snobbery? It’s not about DESIGN, Boober, it’s about accessibility. So rant about design snobbery to the visually impaired folks who cannot read his blog because the font size is too damn small. He doesn’t have to overhaul his entire theme just to make the suggested changes. He just needs to make some edits in the style sheet. Maybe that’s hard for SOME folks…. And the word you are looking for is ridiculous, I presume? ??

Oh man, i spelled a word wrong BURN!! im shamed into silence!!

i think the OP can decide whether she wants to change ONE number to fix her problem, or a dozen. EMs are great but px is just fine. complain to the theme author if youre still feeling righteous. this topic should be closed.

The only one acting righteous is you, hon. I could practically hear you stomp your foot from here. And yes, the OP or anyone else can decide whether they want to make their sites accessible or not. Not you and certainly not me.

how’d I miss this one?? damnit! ??

Hi,

first: him is a her ;-))

and thanks a lot for your replies.

I don′t have a problem if resolutions are “too complicated” for me. They might be right now, but I′m not very silly and able to learn. And if I′m using a wp I should learn a bit more about it, right?

So, thats what I′m going to do. Thanks für giving me some advice. You always need to now what to learn, bevore you can do it!

Cheers!

Now that the firefight is over and the ashes are cooling: boober said “actually the easiest solution is to just up the font size in your theme’s stylesheet”

That is easiest, but what I’d said was “The easiest solution, if you care about the readability of your site…”

It’s that last part that’s important. You can increase your font size to 12px, but someone with bad eyesight might still have difficulty reading your site — and if they use IE they’re stuck with that font size. There are sites online that offer pixel/em comparisons, and you could use them (if you want) to change all the pixel sizes in your stylesheet to ems.