

Font sizing with rem - xtian
http://snook.ca/archives/html_and_css/font-size-with-rem

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pilif
Pixels work fine in real browsers, they worked fine even since and they don't
require strange math or resetting a child element. And because they work, they
don't require a fallback.

If a specific browser doesn't support a very specific feature, I'd say: screw
that browser. This isn't about an essential page feature missing, heck, it's
not even about the page not looking the same across browsers.

This is about allowing the user to change the look of the page. If a user is
advanced enough to even know they can do that, then they might also be
advanced enough not to use IE.

This feels like optimizing the completely wrong thing - and even changing the
spec to accomodate a browser issue (which will never support the new unit
anyways).

At this point, there's no advantage to use 1rem instead of 10px, aside of IE9
support.

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fourspace
Just like most of web design, all of this seems so insane. We can't use
pixels, so let's use ems. But ems don't work, so we need rems. Those don't
always work, so let's also specify pixels. WTF!

Great post, though.

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zokier
I'm not a web designer, but what's wrong with old fashioned points as
measurement unit?

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xtian
Physical units like points and inches render inconsistently because operating
systems make different assumptions about the pixels per inch of a screen.

They work great for @media print styles, though.

~~~
JoshTriplett
Physical units _intentionally_ render at a fixed physical size across devices
(with the exception of some broken browsers). If I ask my browser for an
8.5in-wide box, and hold a piece of (US letter) paper up to my screen, the
width matches exactly.

If you really want a fixed size in pixels, use pixels, but please don't for
anything other than images (and take care with images).

~~~
xtian
Sure, but this is only true if the operating system knows the correct ppi for
the display (not guaranteed) and only useful if you know the physical
dimensions of the client (almost never).

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yason
It shouldn't matter what the sizes are, only the size relative to other
element matters when it comes to the design.

The unit might as well be 1d (for _d_ istance) because the browser can scale
the representation of the scenegraph up and down like any vector graphics
viewers, think PDF. It's also a small task to offer an alternative CSS for
those who want to read the text instead of admiring the spaciousness of the
design and the tininess of the fonts.

