Getting fonts to suit all resolutions

[charlyanderson]

Hi,

I am just finishing off my website and would like to make the font smaller for smallers resolutions only. If not the font just looks a little big

I was going to use media queries but discovered this does not work in IE8, can someone recommend another solution?

[Excavator]

Hello charlyanderson,
Not sure this will be flexible enough for you but I usually put something like this to establish a base size -

html, body {
	margin: 0;
	font: 100% "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
	color: #000;
	background: #fc6;
}

And then declare an em size for whatever text I'm using -

#container {
	width: 800px;
	margin: 0 auto;
	font-size: .75em;
	background: #999;
}
h1 {font-size: 1em;}

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/howtosizetextincss/

[charlyanderson]

I'll live it a go thank you. Just trying to get the fonts at a suitable size across the browsers. All this is just developing my hate for IE lol

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by charlyanderson

Hi,
I am just finishing off my website and would like to make the font smaller for smallers resolutions only. If not the font just looks a little big
I was going to use media queries but discovered this does not work in IE8, can someone recommend another solution?

You might want to reconsider that, because people with a small resolution are used to big fonts. Or they have set the font rendering size of their browser to small(er). If you set a smaller font size as well, it will be too small.

[charlyanderson]

I am quite tempted Frankie, just didn't wanna seem unproffessional

[COBOLdinosaur]

Please do not try to control fonts. This is a user setting, and they know much better than you do what is appropriate for their situation. For accessibility NEVER set an absolute value for font size. Where you need bigger or smaller than the standard font size the user has set for most of the page specify a percentage value which will retain relative sizing without impinging on the users right to set whatever font size they are comfortable with.

Cd&

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by charlyanderson

I am quite tempted Frankie, just didn't wanna seem unproffessional

Your intention was good, but the effect would have been undesirable. Because for those users who have set their browser to a small(er) font rendering, the font would have become too small. And Cd& has some good advice, too, regarding the absolute font size -- don't set that.

[charlyanderson]

Ok thanks I really appreciate your comments. I am very new to web design so still a little unsure of things. I have been using a HD screen with a high resolution for my designing so the design and font generally looks bigger on a standard monitor. I was just concerned about it looking too big and unprofessional.

Having said that I am learning about responsive design now so perhaps for my next design I will do that instead. My website address is here. I am hoping that the final piece looks ok after all.

Thanks again for all your comments