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« Accessibility and browsers »

Changing font sizes with the various browsers.

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Even today, in 2005, the flaw with most web sites is that the vast majority of web designers, including a great many FT1000 companies, force users to see it as 'they' want you to see it, generally in absolute pixel or point sizes. The problem with this is that the most popular browser - Microsoft Internet Explorer - is one of the rudest in terms of not letting you over-ride settings. Alternatively, people design for the 800x600 or smaller, with the effect that the rest of us suffer needlessly. Either way, rather thoughtless, eh.

Me? I set the base text size to 80%, with all others set to an 'em' width with the style sheet. In lay terms, if you resize here, whether through screen size, browser window size or resetting the font, everything - even the menus - will fluidly change to suit the size 'you' find most comfortable.

All browsers have menu options to resize pages to suit. I will be adding a style switcher but for now, here's how to increase or decrease the font size with the popular browsers:

Here's a guideline, taken from the Tertiary Education Commission's accessibility page

In general, looking under the 'View' selection on the main menu, you should find an option called 'Text Zoom' or 'Text Magnification' or 'Text Size' or 'Font Size'. From that point it should be relatively simple to find and select an additional sub menu option that adjusts text size to your needs.



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On the PC





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On the MAC




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