# RE: Re: Re: \[ANN\] Ruby on Rails Searchable and AnnotatableDo **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 18, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-re-re-ann-ruby-on-rails-searchable-and-annotatabledo/60864 "2006-05-18T01:13:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ross_D)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-re-re-ann-ruby-on-rails-searchable-and-annotatabledo/60864/1 "2006-05-18T01:13:25Z")
> body#rails\_outertrack\_com { > font-size: 14px /\* Be kind to these li’l eyes of yours, baby \*/ > } > > Dominique Rose-Rosette Be kinder by specifying {font-size 1em} so that it’s scalable. My pixels are smaller than yours baby. Seriously though folks, please try and move away from absolute sizes for elements (px). Unless they’ve fixed it IE can’t resize a 14px font (View -\> Text Size). Your also assuming that 14px is the same size on all monitors and that ain’t the case. Ross ---
**Author:** ![Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ross_D)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-re-re-ann-ruby-on-rails-searchable-and-annotatabledo/60864/2 "2006-05-18T01:53:53Z")
\<…\> > Seriously though folks, please try and move away from absolute sizes for elements (px). > Unless they’ve fixed it IE can’t resize a 14px font (View → Text Size). Your also assuming that > 14px is the same size on all monitors and that ain’t the case. > \<…\> You have just let evil nitpicker out of me, so here it goes: Absolute units in CSS are: cm, mm, in, pt, pc. Relative units are: em, ex, px. As you say yourself: > Your also assuming that 14px is the same size on all monitors and that ain’t the case. That means “relative”, I suppose. Quote from The God of The Accessibility Joe Clark[1]: “Today, I want everyone in the room to take a vow never to say anything like that ever again. Do not tell people, or tell yourself, or even think that there’s something inherently wrong with pixel-based fonts. What there’s something inherently wrong with is Internet Explorer for Windows” _Yes_, I do thing that setting font size in such way that even poor IE users can resize them is a Good Thing ™. (I also may think, that these three people who know how to do that resizing are using FF or Opera anyway, but that’s irrelevant). _No_, I do not think that anybody setting font size in px should be punished or called names. And we absolutely _do not need_ pointless discussion and/or flame war on this subject. Just do it in the way you think is the right one. [1] [http://joeclark.org/atmedia/atmedia-NOTES-2.html](http://joeclark.org/atmedia/atmedia-NOTES-2.html) Regards, Rimantas ---
**Author:** ![Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ross_D)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-re-re-ann-ruby-on-rails-searchable-and-annotatabledo/60864/3 "2006-05-18T02:03:30Z")
Connor, I just want to say thank you once again. You’ve done an awesome job and provide a great contribution to the community. While those in this thread beat each other to a bloody pulp over “who’s font is larger” I will be enjoying your work and having even more fun writing Rails applications because of it. Time to get annotating… Michael ---
**Author:** ![Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ross\_D](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ross_D)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-re-re-ann-ruby-on-rails-searchable-and-annotatabledo/60864/4 "2006-05-18T01:54:00Z")
Le Jeudi 18 Mai 2006 01:07, Ross D. a écrit : > > body#rails\_outertrack\_com { > > font-size: 14px /\* Be kind to these li’l eyes of yours, baby \*/ > > } > > > > Dominique Rose-Rosette > > Be kinder by specifying {font-size 1em} so that it’s scalable. My pixels > are smaller than yours baby. Sure! There’s definitely no arguing on that. Yet, this CSS definition would not impact you, or anyone besides me for that matter, as I was referring to a - user-defined \* stylesheet (typically ~/.mozilla/firefox/[profile]/chrome/userContent.css for \*nix Firefox users) Granted, this is no general and immediate cure to the font-size problem, as it requires manual intervention, but that unfortunately seldom used body#id tag trick would a nice little addition, imho. > Seriously though folks, please try and move away from absolute sizes for > elements (px). Unless they’ve fixed it IE can’t resize a 14px font (View > → Text Size). Your also assuming that 14px is the same size on all > monitors and that ain’t the case. Generally speaking, yes, em-based font sizes are far more accessible and convenient, at least theoretically. But they sure have their fair share of practical drawbacks, the least of which being the HUGE default pixel size for IE (16 pixels). (Two freshly googled references: [http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-5210803.html](http://builder.com.com/5100-6371-5210803.html) and [http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=FontSize](http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=FontSize)) So the different-base-font-size-across-platforms problem you mentioned goes for em at least as sharply as with other units. At least, they are resizable, that’s right. But finding a good practical default implies resorting to clever hacks in your site’s stylesheet. It’s not as simple as changing em for px in the stylesheet. So, as much as I would advocate using a em-based default font size in the site’s stylesheet - and I totally agree with you this - I think that providing a convenient way for individual users to further refine the site’s appearance according to their specific constraints and needs would be a dead simple yet efficient bonus. DRR