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At 01:26 PM 1/11/2005, John Gorentz wrote:
>There are more and more things on the web that I just can't read with Internet Explorer.
Well, if you insist on using an inferior browser what do you expect? <grin>. However, even in IE there is a setting that takes care of this in most cases.
Go to Internet Options and on the General tab click on Accessibility. Select the option called "Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages". With this option chosen, you can then use the View, TextSize choices to control the size of text. I tried it on the WebProNews site you mention, and it works there just as it has on every other site where I've tried it.
I agree with your point that users should have control over font sizes, but I'm not sure that the designers are to blame. I believe that all of the major browsers other than IE, in their default configurations, have a View menu item or similar choice that will resize text at the user's whim, even if the page has sizes specified in px units. On the other hand, as described above, IE makes you find a somewhat obscure setting and change it before it will resize text. In that sense, isn't the problem you are experiencing Microsoft's fault?
You might find the book "designing with web standards" by Jeffrey Zeldman interesting. In the process of teaching about CSS, he goes into great detail about the issue of font size display, covering its history, explaining the interactions of page design choices with browser behavior, and pulling no punches in criticizing the companies who have done stupid things with their products (such as IE).
--Chris
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Chris Wolf Computer Service Manager
Agricultural Economics [log in to unmask]
Michigan State University 517 353-5017
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