Re: font size equivalence

Subject: Re: font size equivalence
From: Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 11:15:07 -0800 (PST)

--- "Cummings, Elizabeth" <CummEl -at- ncs -dot- com> wrote:
> Hi. How do font sizes specified in HTML correspond with font sizes
> listed in drop-down menus like within Outlook or Word? Is there a
> chart somewhere that outlines what's equivalent to what?
>
> I've set my main text in a document to "2", and I'm wondering if this
> is the equivalent of 11 in Word. I've tried to figure out this
> myself, but all I can find is info about the default base font being
> 3 and how to alter it with "+#" or "-#".

Font sizes in HTML need not correspond to font sizes in a word
processing program. There are a number of factors involved. Users can
set their browsers to the default font and size they want, so the value
of the numbers will fluctuate by what the user may have done to her
preferences.

Then there are the characteristics of the monitor used in the viewing.
Depending on the screen resolution, the size of the text as viewed will
vary so that 11 point in one screen resolution will look very much
smaller or larger when viewed in a different screen resolution.

It is useful to remember that ultimately you cannot control what the
user sees online, because the user can override you. This is true even
if you use stylesheets. In fact, on some browsers, users can specify
their own stylesheet to be used in rendering your content.

That's one reason why the numbers 1 through 5 are useful ONLY as
relative indications of font size, but that's a more honest description
than a point size which may not show up on my screen in the same way it
does on yours, even if I have the font in question, which is a whole
different question.

=====
Tom Murrell
Lead Technical Writer
Alliance Data Systems
Columbus, Ohio
mailto:trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/

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