8 ms·

Side note about this website font-size: I'm sitting in front a desktop 23" monitor at arms length, I have to zoom to 175% to get a decent font-size. I have a pe

Side note about this website font-size: I'm sitting in front a desktop 23" monitor at arms length, I have to zoom to 175% to get a decent font-size. I have a perfect eye sight. Edit: By decent I mean somewhere around 18px, so here between 150% and 175%. I could read at 125%, but while I am it, why not get rid off all the whitespace on the right by zooming and getting even more comfortable. By perfect eyesight I do mean perfect eyesight in all possible measurements, except reaction speed maybe.

programbreeding 9y ago
Same size screen (possibly lower resolution, I'm only on 1680x1050) and while I don't have to zoom in to read it, the font is definitely on the small side.
- YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago
  On the small side perhaps, but 175 % would be at the other extreme (unless there's something that causes OP to have even smaller fonts than I have with a monitor with similar pixel pitch). IMO 125 % at the very most should be enough to not get called a not decent sized typeface.
finnh 9y ago
I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but because I honestly wonder if this is the explanation. Could you be farsighted? When people say "perfect eye sight" they (typically) mean 20/20 or better, but that's for distance vision. So if you can see things in the distance way better than your friends, that doesn't (necessarily) mean that your up-close vision is great. (I'm on a 27" 5K monitor, so a good bit larger but not absurdly so, also at arms' length, and while I agree that the font is on the small side it is (to me) crazy huge at 175%).
- isatty 9y ago
  Wait are you saying that an optometrist certified 20/20 is not perfect vision? I'm curious because I don't have perfect vision (I'm at -0.5 on both eyes) but I can read most things just fine (just not far away stuff). I find that websites regularly have small font sizes. I use a 2K UHD monitors (U2515H x2) at an arms length and I zoom both HN and reddit to read them with ease.
  - robin_reala 9y ago
    20/20 is ‘normal’ vision. To quote Wikipedia: A reference value above which visual acuity is considered normal is called 6/6 vision, the USC equivalent of which is 20/20 vision: At 6 meters or 20 feet, a human eye with that performance is able to separate contours that are approximately 1.75 mm apart.[4] Vision of 6/12 corresponds to lower, vision of 6/3 to better performance. Normal individuals have an acuity of 6/4 or better (depending on age and other factors).
    - finnh 9y ago
      I'm not drawing distinctions between "normal" and "perfect" here. My point is that 20/20 refers to what you can see at a distance of 20 feet, which is different from what you can see at a distance of 2 feet. Huge numbers of senior citizens have 20/20 or better vision but still can't read a computer monitor without reading glasses.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - red75prime 9y ago
        Presbyopia. Human's eyes gradually lose ability to focus on nearby things. Past 40 it begins to be a nuisance.
SippinLean 9y ago
I'm guessing it has to do with the site's age; seems like the styling is due for an update now that 800x600 monitors are not the norm.
pjc50 9y ago
body { font: 0.8em/145% georgia,times,serif; What does that even mean?
- YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago
  Slightly smaller than the default font size, with an increased line height.
- robin_reala 9y ago
  A (default) letter height of about 13px, with about a 5px space in between the lines.
- abritinthebay 9y ago
  It’s CSS shorthand. font-size/line-height font-family An Em is a typographical unit that basically means “the current font size”, so it actually nests in CSS/HTML. Default browser font size tends to be a 16pt pixel equivalent. So in this case this is 80% of that. Line height is obvious I think, but yeah - it’s in a % of the current font size. They’re just standard typography syntax (the “size/height” bit anyhow) and units moved into CSS with no change.
  - nerfhammer 9y ago
    Actually I never realized this but aren't em and % actually the same then? 0.8em = 80%
    - musage 9y ago
      There is one caveat relating to default browser font size, but yes: https://kyleschaeffer.com/user-experience/css-font-size-em-vs-px-vs-pt-vs/ https://kyleschaeffer.com/user-experience/css-font-size-em-v...
      - n-gauge 9y ago
        Unfortunately issues arise when using em's in Android webview compared to Chrome. Em's get rendered about 8x in webview, even though the Chrome emulator shows otherwise. I tried the % way but that doesn't fix it either.
iagooar 9y ago
27" here. Can read any other text perfectly. Yet that font is indeed way too small to be read comfortably. Especially after +10 hours in front of a screen.
Kiro 9y ago
While I understand the appeal of large text I definitely prefer to be able to see more of the text vertically.
rconti 9y ago
2560 x 1440 27" about 20" away, font seems fine. shrug

programbreeding 9y ago

Same size screen (possibly lower resolution, I'm only on 1680x1050) and while I don't have to zoom in to read it, the font is definitely on the small side.

YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago
On the small side perhaps, but 175 % would be at the other extreme (unless there's something that causes OP to have even smaller fonts than I have with a monitor with similar pixel pitch). IMO 125 % at the very most should be enough to not get called a not decent sized typeface.

finnh 9y ago

I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but because I honestly wonder if this is the explanation. Could you be farsighted? When people say "perfect eye sight" they (typically) mean 20/20 or better, but that's for distance vision. So if you can see things in the distance way better than your friends, that doesn't (necessarily) mean that your up-close vision is great. (I'm on a 27" 5K monitor, so a good bit larger but not absurdly so, also at arms' length, and while I agree that the font is on the small side it is (to me) crazy huge at 175%).

isatty 9y ago
Wait are you saying that an optometrist certified 20/20 is not perfect vision? I'm curious because I don't have perfect vision (I'm at -0.5 on both eyes) but I can read most things just fine (just not far away stuff). I find that websites regularly have small font sizes. I use a 2K UHD monitors (U2515H x2) at an arms length and I zoom both HN and reddit to read them with ease.
- robin_reala 9y ago
  20/20 is ‘normal’ vision. To quote Wikipedia: A reference value above which visual acuity is considered normal is called 6/6 vision, the USC equivalent of which is 20/20 vision: At 6 meters or 20 feet, a human eye with that performance is able to separate contours that are approximately 1.75 mm apart.[4] Vision of 6/12 corresponds to lower, vision of 6/3 to better performance. Normal individuals have an acuity of 6/4 or better (depending on age and other factors).
  - finnh 9y ago
    I'm not drawing distinctions between "normal" and "perfect" here. My point is that 20/20 refers to what you can see at a distance of 20 feet, which is different from what you can see at a distance of 2 feet. Huge numbers of senior citizens have 20/20 or better vision but still can't read a computer monitor without reading glasses.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - red75prime 9y ago
      Presbyopia. Human's eyes gradually lose ability to focus on nearby things. Past 40 it begins to be a nuisance.

SippinLean 9y ago

I'm guessing it has to do with the site's age; seems like the styling is due for an update now that 800x600 monitors are not the norm.

pjc50 9y ago

body { font: 0.8em/145% georgia,times,serif; What does that even mean?

YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago
Slightly smaller than the default font size, with an increased line height.
robin_reala 9y ago
A (default) letter height of about 13px, with about a 5px space in between the lines.
abritinthebay 9y ago
It’s CSS shorthand. font-size/line-height font-family An Em is a typographical unit that basically means “the current font size”, so it actually nests in CSS/HTML. Default browser font size tends to be a 16pt pixel equivalent. So in this case this is 80% of that. Line height is obvious I think, but yeah - it’s in a % of the current font size. They’re just standard typography syntax (the “size/height” bit anyhow) and units moved into CSS with no change.
- nerfhammer 9y ago
  Actually I never realized this but aren't em and % actually the same then? 0.8em = 80%
  - musage 9y ago
    There is one caveat relating to default browser font size, but yes: https://kyleschaeffer.com/user-experience/css-font-size-em-vs-px-vs-pt-vs/ https://kyleschaeffer.com/user-experience/css-font-size-em-v...
    - n-gauge 9y ago
      Unfortunately issues arise when using em's in Android webview compared to Chrome. Em's get rendered about 8x in webview, even though the Chrome emulator shows otherwise. I tried the % way but that doesn't fix it either.

iagooar 9y ago

27" here. Can read any other text perfectly. Yet that font is indeed way too small to be read comfortably. Especially after +10 hours in front of a screen.

Kiro 9y ago

While I understand the appeal of large text I definitely prefer to be able to see more of the text vertically.

rconti 9y ago

2560 x 1440 27" about 20" away, font seems fine. shrug