Warmest Greetings,

:: Monday, August 19, 2002 ::

JN says "Font You" to Microsoft

Ok. Jakob Nielsen didn't say that really, but he's making a case for font sizes based on his opinion that size matters to us and we should be able to control what we see on our monitors.

"I'm hereby launching a campaign to get Microsoft to make user preferences override any fixed font size specification in Web designs", he states in his latest Alertbox - Alertbox

"Another example of harmful Web technology comes with the increasing use of style sheets, which let web designers specify the exact size of text down to the pixel. Unfortunately, many designers are using this ability, leading to reduced readability of an increasing number of websites."

He's not entirely wrong here, but of course he's going to rile up the CSS troops. I agree with the reduced readability aspect, especially when older versions of Netscape render CSS font sizes to be even smaller than how MSIE renders it. Some of my clients say if it looks good and is readable in MSIE, that's good enough for them. Who cares if with Netscape the user needs a magnify glass, or the boldface doesn't work properly? (I do, but I'm not paying the web design bill.)

JN says:

"So, why is so much website text so hard to read in the first place? Two theories:
· Most web designers are young, and so have perfect vision. Tiny text doesn't bother them as much as it bothers people on the other side of 40. Designers also tend to own expensive, high-quality monitors that are easier on the eyes.
· While creating a website, designers don't actually read the information on the pages. They simply glance at the text to make sure it looks great. In fact, many designs are approved with "lorem ipsum" standing in the place of real copy. When you don't have to read the words, it doesn't matter that the characters are small.

BALONEY!

First of all, I'm 44, and blind as a bat without my contacts. I even have reading glasses to wear over my contacts so I don't squint at the monitor and I have a 21" "high quality" monitor.

Secondly, my goodness. It's time I raise my web design hourly rate! I'd NEVER design a site and not read the copy. For starters, is the copy usable to readers? Is it optimized? Is it constructed to help users navigate the site and/or recognize immediately the objective of the page or site? This is what I'm paid to be checking for. What kind of web design house wouldn't provide this service?

Anyway, aside from the occasional ruffled feathers response I had, this Alertbox has some really good info in it, esp. the pointers for CSS at the bottom. Worth checking it out...

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 8/19/2002 12:22:04 PM

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