

Ask HN: Website font's getting smaller overtime? - ldng

I've had this totally unscientific feeling lately that website are using smaller font size. I've been asking around and a few people told they had that feeling too.<p>Not really where to start looking I though about you, dear HNers.<p>Could it be a side effect of spreading use of reset stylesheets ? Or is that a trend to accommodate iphone users ? Or am I just dreaming ?<p>Thanks.
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briandoll
I'd say just the opposite, at least as far as design 'trends' go.

In the late nineties, every website I worked on had insufferably small type.
This was primarily because the web was designed by graphic designers that were
new to this web thing. They would often draw a box for someone else to fit the
type in. Tables were the dominant method of aligning objects on the page.

Thankfully, we've gotten smarter since. We know that those "words" actually
matter. They communicate and are highly scannable, often even better than
obscure iconography or visual elements.

Services such as TypeKit <http://typekit.com/> should provide everyone with
the ability to design beautiful web pages with great typography, and anyone
who cares about good typography tends to want that type to actually be read.

Check out virtually any new startup and you'll likely see large bold
typefaces, short and concise phrases with a strong visual aesthetic leaning
toward a minimalist style.

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ldng
Well it's true that website design are better, typeface are taken into
account. But was referring to a mre recent history, like maybe the last two
years.

It's really about the font size and not the design. Sadly I find myself
zooming more and more often just to read comfortably an article. Well, maybe
it's just me :-)

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th0ma5
It could just be the further ease of implementation, and spread of information
about, good typography implementation. When the Ruby-esque templates were
first taking hold, I would've argued that fonts were getting bigger, or at
least the headlines, but downloadable type on the web also offers different
weights, which I think is perhaps the biggest change. Weights make a lot of
sense in print, but I wonder if one the web we were somewhat better off,
readability wise, with at least consistent weighting.

