Hi guys, How important would you guys say it is for a webpage to be compatible with web browsers running larger text sizes (in IE, "View > Text Size" from Medium text to Larger text)? I am planning on releasing a mainstream website with many less-competent visitors. To that end, when I increase text size in IE everything seems to blow up to very large proportions, but in Firefox it's a perfect, moderate increase. Is this a problem? Should I be concerned that many people running IE + larger text sizes will have difficulty reading my pages? What can I do to get around this? Thanks guys! -influxer
It is my principle to code for the default medium font size, and provide enough flexibility in design to go ± two font sizes; in other words to encompass the full range afforded by IE. Many developers are satisfied with less, but a full step is the absolute minimum range, imo. cheers, gary
I do the same as Gary (+/- two sizes). Constantly when working in FF I use Ctrl+the mouse wheel, often going way beyond "reasonable" just to see what happens. Ctrl+0 will return it to normal. I'd say it's definitely important to allow for flexibility (consider the difference between high resolution monitors and projectors). Check where you specified your font sizes and try adjusting them. IMO, it's better to have the base size slightly larger rather than slightly smaller. IE tends to break things, but it is used by the majority of Internet users, so there is a good chance you will have at least some people using IE at a larger font size. Compatibility and accessbility are the big goals of any web page. Consider that user agents can also use a font other than what you specify, so that could throw off your pages as well.
I try and make fluid layouts, but IMO like the two previous posts if you can accomadate slightly bigger font-sizes I would go shoot for font sizes one or two points bigger.