[fedora-websites] #246: fedora.css sets a universal scaling factor of 76%, which is much too small

[fedora-websites]

#246: fedora.css sets a universal scaling factor of 76%, which is much too small
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  Reporter:  adamwill  |      Owner:  webmaster
      Type:  defect    |     Status:  new
  Priority:  major     |  Milestone:
 Component:  General   |   Keywords:  css font size
Blocked By:            |   Blocking:
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 fedora.css, which all Fedora websites are encouraged to use, has this
 right at the top:

 body
 {
   font-size: 76%;
   background: #FFFFFF url(../images/border-left.png) 0 0 repeat-y;
 }

 It's been there for years, since before the stuff was imported to git, so
 its history may be obscure at this point, but Googling around, it looks
 like 76% was considered a 'rule' by some so-called authorities at some
 point. http://www.sitepoint.com/css-font-sizing-tutorial/ has mention of
 it in the comments, http://forums.modx.com/thread/?thread=17583 has some
 chatter about it, http://www.baekdal.com/insights/new-minimum-font-size is
 from 2005 and cites 76% as the new *minimum* recommended font size, etc.

 I think it's pretty unarguably too small for the modern day, though.
 Taking the standard 'base size' for browsers - 16px - and using the 96dpi
 convention, text at '76%' is 12.16px in size, which is equivalent to 9pt.
 How many people do you know who have their desktops set to a 9pt font on a
 modern system? Particularly a modern *laptop*. Reading text on Fedora
 sites on most systems without zooming or overriding the CSS or setting a
 large minimum px size in your browser (which is undesirable for other
 reasons) is a pretty tiring experience even for me, and I still have
 effectively perfect eyesight for reading text; it must be more or less
 impossible for anyone with somewhat less than perfect eyesight.

 Yes, this is the thing Felix Miata is always banging on about, but you
 know what? Now I spent a day actually looking into this stuff, he's
 absolutely damn right. Sorry, Felix. I hope this post was calm and
 reasonable enough and brought enough numbers. :)

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Ticket URL: <https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-websites/ticket/246>
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