to or not to specify font sizes

[gm1234]

Now this is really serious. There are some who say that a font size of 10 to 12 points would be good, some others who say that font sizes should be specified in percentage of 80 to 90% and some others who are against specifying font sizes. I wonder which one would be correct on the web usability point of view. Any help?

[Hope]

I prefer using 10 or 12 pt. This makes it consistant in any resolution. If you use something of a percentage such as <small> then it will change with different resolutions and look different on each browser.

[islanding]

There is much controversy in relationship to font-size specifications. My advice is the same as the majority of long-time designers. When you specify a font size, specify it in pixels (px) not points (pt) or em. Using a pt or em font-size property instead of px allows for your site text to be resized according to the viewer's system settings. If their system is set to view very large text, your web site's layout will become distorted and your web site may be illegible to them.

Also, be very careful not to set your font-size pixels too small. Some folks may not be able to read tiny text and adjusting their system text size will have no effect on your site because your font-size is specified as px. There truly is a happy medium in any situation and the font-size (ie. 12px) will vary depending on the font-family (ie. Arial, Times New Roman, etc.) you use.

[johnhask]

Your design should fit the visitors viewing it. If you think persons will need to re-adjust their browsers/text size, then create a design that is flexable in terms of layout. As stated, Pixels are always our wish, but sometimes a fixed font is demanded.