

Why use meta tags when CSS does the job? - jimworm

Is there some reason for mobile devices to use meta tags to control their display properties when CSS supports physical units, like points and millimetres?<p>As someone who has been writing CSS for some time, I find that `width=device-width` and `initial-scale` much less intuitive than `height: 15mm` and `font-size: 12pt` and `@media` queries, all of which have been defined for many years.<p>Instead of supporting these units properly, I find that devices are requiring meta tags to set their viewports to a pixel size, and with `device-width`, often a pixel size that isn't their actual screen size.<p>How did the world become this way? Did I miss something while I was asleep, and now these fake pixels are length units in the real world? Or maybe everybody is holding out for a real CSS3 standard, and this is an interim solution? Am I wrong for wanting to use these real units in CSS?
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mooism2
Doesn't CSS define a pixel as being 1/96th of an inch?

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jimworm
Hmm, so it does. A "reference pixel" they call it.

