5 ms·

iOS dynamic type on the web

26 points by mrmrs 11y ago

jordanwallwork 11y ago
If someone running iOS could provide screenshots then this article would get a whole lot more interesting
- alexashka 11y ago
  It's helvetica font of varying weights/sizes - not at all interesting to look at. In short - you specify 'apple device headline font' in css and the phone uses whatever the default headline font is for that version of iOS. Very useful for making web apps look native by matching the system fonts.
- ldjb 11y ago
  Here's what the page looks like on an iPad: http://imgur.com/tUGUfpA http://imgur.com/tUGUfpA
- Sidnicious 11y ago
  On an iPhone 6S: https://i.imgur.com/8fNGdl7.gif https://i.imgur.com/8fNGdl7.gif
TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
I recall reading someone complaining about Apple adding this feature. Unlike normal vendor prefixes, it's not really for an experimental feature that other vendors might implement, it's a final feature that is proprietary.
- glhaynes 11y ago
  It'd be foolish to use it on the broader web (and I don't know any instances of anyone doing so), but it seems like it could be really useful for HTML intended to be rendered in an app on an Apple platform.
  - IgorPartola 11y ago
    Why can't we have the same thing for "-android-system-headline" for example? And when everyone implements it, it would be just "system-headline".
    - glhaynes 11y ago
      A brief Googling didn't make it clear to me whether Android has the option to set global text size or, if it does, whether it matches Apple's scheme sufficiently well that it'd make sense to have a common specification for this.
      - IgorPartola 11y ago
        That's a lot like saying that after searching the Usenet, you didn't find that IE supported the <blink> tag, while Netscape did :) Android should let you set system font sizes. It's a usability thing. And if Apple, Google, and MS can agree on how this is done, that'd be a good thing for everyone involved.
    - mrmrs 11y ago
      We can! And we should!
- mrmrs 11y ago
  From my understanding - it is proprietary at the moment but Apple has publicly pushed for other vendors to do something similar and for it to be standardized. There is a discussion on w3c to make this a standard: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2015Jul/0169.html https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2015Jul/0169....
seivan 11y ago
Good luck convincing designers to use this. My parents can't use a few applications because of designers refusal. My dad literally had to change banks because some of the banks used too small fonts. So far none of them use dynamic type, but at least some have larger fonts.
- pedrogpimenta 11y ago
  He changed banks. That's so fucking weird. Changing a bank because of its app. Have not heard this before.
mrmrs 11y ago
I get that this is proprietary - but I do like the idea of font styles being driven by global user settings at the browser or system level. Would love to see more of this in the future. I put this together mostly so that I could build some simple iOS prototypes with html and css - not something I'd use for the average web app project.
pluma 11y ago
Any screenshots for non-iOS users?

26 points by mrmrs 11y ago

jordanwallwork 11y ago

If someone running iOS could provide screenshots then this article would get a whole lot more interesting

alexashka 11y ago
It's helvetica font of varying weights/sizes - not at all interesting to look at. In short - you specify 'apple device headline font' in css and the phone uses whatever the default headline font is for that version of iOS. Very useful for making web apps look native by matching the system fonts.
ldjb 11y ago
Here's what the page looks like on an iPad: http://imgur.com/tUGUfpA http://imgur.com/tUGUfpA
Sidnicious 11y ago
On an iPhone 6S: https://i.imgur.com/8fNGdl7.gif https://i.imgur.com/8fNGdl7.gif

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

I recall reading someone complaining about Apple adding this feature. Unlike normal vendor prefixes, it's not really for an experimental feature that other vendors might implement, it's a final feature that is proprietary.

glhaynes 11y ago
It'd be foolish to use it on the broader web (and I don't know any instances of anyone doing so), but it seems like it could be really useful for HTML intended to be rendered in an app on an Apple platform.
- IgorPartola 11y ago
  Why can't we have the same thing for "-android-system-headline" for example? And when everyone implements it, it would be just "system-headline".
  - glhaynes 11y ago
    A brief Googling didn't make it clear to me whether Android has the option to set global text size or, if it does, whether it matches Apple's scheme sufficiently well that it'd make sense to have a common specification for this.
    - IgorPartola 11y ago
      That's a lot like saying that after searching the Usenet, you didn't find that IE supported the <blink> tag, while Netscape did :) Android should let you set system font sizes. It's a usability thing. And if Apple, Google, and MS can agree on how this is done, that'd be a good thing for everyone involved.
  - mrmrs 11y ago
    We can! And we should!
mrmrs 11y ago
From my understanding - it is proprietary at the moment but Apple has publicly pushed for other vendors to do something similar and for it to be standardized. There is a discussion on w3c to make this a standard: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2015Jul/0169.html https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2015Jul/0169....

seivan 11y ago

Good luck convincing designers to use this. My parents can't use a few applications because of designers refusal. My dad literally had to change banks because some of the banks used too small fonts. So far none of them use dynamic type, but at least some have larger fonts.

pedrogpimenta 11y ago
He changed banks. That's so fucking weird. Changing a bank because of its app. Have not heard this before.

mrmrs 11y ago

I get that this is proprietary - but I do like the idea of font styles being driven by global user settings at the browser or system level. Would love to see more of this in the future. I put this together mostly so that I could build some simple iOS prototypes with html and css - not something I'd use for the average web app project.

pluma 11y ago

Any screenshots for non-iOS users?