4 ms·

Using the default 12px text size is a pretty good indicator that a website's entire engineering team is under 40.

lagniappe 2y ago
Not necessarily, I still run small fonts because that's all I've known. In the 90s we had very tiny resolutions so we needed to get as much info on the screen as possible.
- voiceblue 2y ago
  I think you missed their point. Most people end up needing reading glasses as they age. I tried to look for a specific number, but the consensus on who eventually needs them seems to be: everyone.
  - rjsw 2y ago
    I have been short sighted since my teens but my eyesight is improving as I age, don't bother wearing glasses now to use a computer.
    - trallnag 2y ago
      You sure it is improving and not just getting worse the other way
      - ksenzee 2y ago
        It’s the same in practice.
deathanatos 2y ago
… the default is 12 pt, or 16px. I can somewhat comfortably read HN (though it is a touch small); it's 12px/9pt. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 10pt myself for normal text. I did hit a site recently whose main copy was 9px, and that was quite annoying, I agree there.
- kevincox 2y ago
  No, there is no global default. It can be customized by users and the defaults can vary on different devices. https://nicolas-hoizey.com/articles/2016/03/02/people-don-t-change-the-default-16px-font-size-in-their-browser/ https://nicolas-hoizey.com/articles/2016/03/02/people-don-t-...
  - Kerrick 2y ago
    Once you customize something, it's no longer the default.
    - kevincox 2y ago
      > the defaults can vary on different devices. Also there are different levels of default. The user can customize the default size of the document element, but this can then be overridden by the web developer.
- naitgacem 2y ago
  I currently have HN set to 150% on my laptop. It is unreadable at the default zoom level.
  - Freak_NL 2y ago
    160% here. One of the few websites I zoom into actually.
slater 2y ago
Every time I set up a new computer it's always shocking to me what the 100% zoom size looks like on websites. ALWAYS have to jam it up to 150%.
- IIsi50MHz 2y ago
  I'm the opposite. Everything seems to keep getting larger, with more and more wasted space (padding, margin), unless I do something like connect a 4k+ screen and disable scaling.
spartanatreyu 2y ago
And yet I can't read a literal web design + accessibility website because the font size is too large and there's no way to shrink down the font size. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ The headlines are so large that I have to move my head to read them. And zooming out doesn't reduce the font-size, it just makes headlines narrower to the point where they're one word under another while I still need to move my head around to read them. Except when zoomed out, I still need to move my head horizontally, but now vertically too.

Not necessarily, I still run small fonts because that's all I've known. In the 90s we had very tiny resolutions so we needed to get as much info on the screen as possible.

voiceblue 2y ago
I think you missed their point. Most people end up needing reading glasses as they age. I tried to look for a specific number, but the consensus on who eventually needs them seems to be: everyone.
- rjsw 2y ago
  I have been short sighted since my teens but my eyesight is improving as I age, don't bother wearing glasses now to use a computer.
  - trallnag 2y ago
    You sure it is improving and not just getting worse the other way
    - ksenzee 2y ago
      It’s the same in practice.

deathanatos 2y ago

… the default is 12 pt, or 16px. I can somewhat comfortably read HN (though it is a touch small); it's 12px/9pt. I wouldn't recommend anything less than 10pt myself for normal text. I did hit a site recently whose main copy was 9px, and that was quite annoying, I agree there.

kevincox 2y ago
No, there is no global default. It can be customized by users and the defaults can vary on different devices. https://nicolas-hoizey.com/articles/2016/03/02/people-don-t-change-the-default-16px-font-size-in-their-browser/ https://nicolas-hoizey.com/articles/2016/03/02/people-don-t-...
- Kerrick 2y ago
  Once you customize something, it's no longer the default.
  - kevincox 2y ago
    > the defaults can vary on different devices. Also there are different levels of default. The user can customize the default size of the document element, but this can then be overridden by the web developer.
naitgacem 2y ago
I currently have HN set to 150% on my laptop. It is unreadable at the default zoom level.
- Freak_NL 2y ago
  160% here. One of the few websites I zoom into actually.

slater 2y ago

Every time I set up a new computer it's always shocking to me what the 100% zoom size looks like on websites. ALWAYS have to jam it up to 150%.

IIsi50MHz 2y ago
I'm the opposite. Everything seems to keep getting larger, with more and more wasted space (padding, margin), unless I do something like connect a 4k+ screen and disable scaling.

spartanatreyu 2y ago

And yet I can't read a literal web design + accessibility website because the font size is too large and there's no way to shrink down the font size. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ The headlines are so large that I have to move my head to read them. And zooming out doesn't reduce the font-size, it just makes headlines narrower to the point where they're one word under another while I still need to move my head around to read them. Except when zoomed out, I still need to move my head horizontally, but now vertically too.