Resize text for different browser settings.

[nproser]

My site is illegible for those that have chosen to make their text larger (not depending on the browser but their preferences). How do I make the text automatically resize or open a different page for users that have different settings.

Thanks in advance.

[jscheuer1]

I wouldn't worry. If they are savvy enough to make the text larger than the default to begin with, I'm sure they know how to shrink it down when needed.

[nproser]

Thanks, I hope so.

[mwinter]

My site is illegible for those that have chosen to make their text larger

Presumably, all of your elements are sized in pixels. If an element contains text, it should normally be given dimensions in em units where 1em equals the value of the font-size CSS property.

There is a great deal to creating a fluid site, and might require a redesign in addition to reimplementation.

I wouldn't worry. If they are savvy enough to make the text larger than the default to begin with, I'm sure they know how to shrink it down when needed.

That would seem to be a rather negligent attitude, to me. Essentially: their problem, not mine.

Mike

[jscheuer1]

My site is illegible for those that have chosen to make their text larger (not depending on the browser but their preferences).

If they are savvy enough to make the text larger than the default to begin with, I'm sure they know how to shrink it down when needed.

That would seem to be a rather negligent attitude, to me. Essentially: their problem, not mine

OK, Mike, so you are saying there is a way to detect if the user has enlarged their font and to compensate for it? OR that you can make Huge Text look OK simply by having a flexible layout? In this forum, that is as large as the editor will allow text. Using FF I can make it appear much larger in the browser. Forget about that for a moment. If all of this message were that size (let alone 10 times larger), it would be a problem. Sometimes you have to rely on the users' common sense. I've seen sites where the type was so small I had to blow it up more than several times to make it legible but that is rare and apparently not what the OP is talking about. Here is the link you gave after a few hits of ctrl + in FF at 1024x768 (half size, notice the browser chrome):

Yeah, if the user has blown their text up like that, let them blow it back down, there is nothing anyone can do about it anyway.

[mwinter]

OK, Mike, so you are saying there is a way to detect if the user has enlarged their font and to compensate for it?

No, otherwise I'd have written that.

OR that you can make Huge Text look OK simply by having a flexible layout?

Who is discussing huge font sizes? Not I. Not the OP either, I expect. So, if you're trying to make a point, you failed.

I enforce a minimum font size of twelve pixels on all sites as it has a significant impact on readability. I've encountered plenty that fall apart from this increase of a couple of pixels. Even larger increases are still acceptable and managable.

Mike

[jscheuer1]

Well, I may not have impressed you Mike but, let's allow others to draw their own conclusions.

I enforce a minimum font size of twelve pixels on all sites as it has a significant impact on readability.

You and what army? I don't mean to be argumentative. In fact, sounds like a good idea, generally. It's just that the words "I enforce" seem a little inappropriate. The fact is that any layout will break down if the text is enlarged too much or shrunk too much. I know many cringe at analogies to TV but, here one is fitting -

It's like a TV broadcaster worrying that if a viewer has his/her set fine tuned to pick up one station that they may have to readjust the fine tuning knob when the broadcaster's station is selected.

Of course, things can be taken to the other extreme where a site is simply illegible unless very strict conditions are met by the user. It is hard to say what we are dealing with here without seeing the OP's page(s).

[mwinter]

I enforce a minimum font size of twelve pixels on all sites as it has a significant impact on readability.

You and what army? I don't mean to be argumentative. In fact, sounds like a good idea, generally. It's just that the words "I enforce" seem a little inappropriate.

Why? It's a personal example of what I do, and what the impact is with inflexible designs. I know that others do similar things, and it's likely that the number will only increase over time as more become aware of the presence and benefits that such a setting can bring. I also know that others alter their settings by increasing the base font size, and that will have a far more profound effect than a minimum.

The fact is that any layout will break down if the text is enlarged too much or shrunk too much.

I'm not discussing "too much". I'm referring to increases that change the illegible into the acceptable - not much at all in most cases.

Limited horizontal space will always define an upper limit to what's reasonable, but that is irrelevant.

Mike