why do websites use so large fonts

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > why do websites use so large fonts

matti: Mar 31, 2019

you open a web site on an out-of-the-box macbook (the most turnkey normal person computer there is) and the height of the bread text is the width of your thumbprint

i am sure this is some "best practice" and there is a good reason for it

what is that?

matti fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Aug 23, 2023

# ? Aug 23, 2023 16:57

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 17:57

matti: Mar 31, 2019

like, my theory is people insisting on using Windows with way too low scaling but developing websites as if they did not

matti fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Aug 24, 2023

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:03

Dijkstracula: Mar 18, 2003; You can't spell 'vector field' without me, Professor!

cause small text is hard to read, OP

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:04

matti: Mar 31, 2019

it's jsut poo poo and grinds my gears!

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:05

OldAlias: Nov 2, 2013

matti posted:

you open a web site on an out-of-the-box macbook (the most turnkey normal person computer there is) and the height of the bread text is the width of your thumbprint

i am sure this is some "best practice" and there is a good reason for it

what is that?

old ppl op

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:06

matti: Mar 31, 2019

Dijkstracula posted:

cause small text is hard to read, OP

but giant text is also

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:08

post hole digger: Mar 21, 2011

you going to a lot of bread websites or something op

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:09

Cybernetic Vermin: Apr 18, 2005

i will use this opportunity to once again complain about the awful app using two different font sizes for normal text, with quoted text smaller than normal, meaning that normal text is oversized if you set sizes to make everything comfortably readable.

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:09

OldAlias: Nov 2, 2013

Cybernetic Vermin posted:

i will use this opportunity to once again complain about the awful app using two different font sizes for normal text, with quoted text smaller than normal, meaning that normal text is oversized if you set sizes to make everything comfortably readable.

skill issue

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:11

matti: Mar 31, 2019

post hole digger posted:

you going to a lot of bread websites or something op

Finnish
Etymology
leip� (�bread�) +‎ teksti (�text�); thus called because the typesetters were formerly paid by letter and the body was the part of the text from which they earned their daily bread.

i just like the term

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:11

matti: Mar 31, 2019

calque of German Brottext

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:13

Shaggar: Apr 26, 2006

matti posted:

you open a web site on an out-of-the-box macbook (the most turnkey normal person computer there is) and the height of the bread text is the width of your thumbprint

i am sure this is some "best practice" and there is a good reason for it

what is that?

everything is built for terrible mobile poo poo now and they dont check desktop browsers. its the same reason youtube is so bad

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:48

post hole digger: Mar 21, 2011

Shaggar posted:

everything is built for terrible mobile poo poo now and they dont check desktop browsers. its the same reason youtube is so bad

this is the real answer

# ? Aug 23, 2023 17:56

rotor: Jun 11, 2001; classic case of pineapple derangement syndrome

remember when browsers gave you the option to choose your default fonts and colors?

# ? Aug 23, 2023 18:43

matti: Mar 31, 2019

you can still do that and it _kind of_ still works

if you have a fairly high tolerance for broken website layouts

# ? Aug 23, 2023 18:52

matti: Mar 31, 2019

but last time i unticked that box, few years ago, the internet was still fairly usable with it untucked

not sure how it is now

# ? Aug 23, 2023 18:52

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

its the fault of all the weirdos that for some reason think the optimal browser experience is pawing at a cell phone

# ? Aug 23, 2023 18:53

well-read undead: Dec 13, 2022

Jonny 290 posted:

its the fault of all the weirdos that for some reason think the optimal browser experience is pawing at a cell phone

aka everyone who's not a computer toucher, and probably most computer touchers when they're not being paid to touch computers

# ? Aug 23, 2023 19:16

well-read undead: Dec 13, 2022

but perhaps the tide will turn and we'll revert to the 9px verdana websites of 2003, who knows

# ? Aug 23, 2023 19:17

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

ah time to tuck in on the couch for a little bit of "me time" and browsing my favorite web sights <gets rsi repeatedly scrolling on a 6" phone> this is living!

# ? Aug 23, 2023 19:18

qirex: Feb 15, 2001

the fault isn't that people think phone browsing is better, it's that responsive web design is tricky and time consuming and the state of the industry means you only get enough design and dev resources to make it barely readable on mobile chrome/safari and then it's back to making more elements that pop over the screen to nag users to do stuff

Jonny 290 posted:

ah time to tuck in on the couch for a little bit of "me time" and browsing my favorite web sights <gets rsi repeatedly scrolling on a 6" phone> this is living!

just don't read anything long enough to require scrolling, problem solved!

# ? Aug 23, 2023 19:37