# HTML Text Size

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 17, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195 "2002-11-17T19:56:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/1 "2002-11-17T19:56:24Z")

</div>

Is there a way to fix the font on a page so it cannot be enlarged or shrunk by any browser (for example, the font size commands in IE)? Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/2 "2002-11-17T20:20:42Z")

</div>

What, do you just feel like inconveniencing handicapped people? You could make it a graphic. That doesn’t get resized on any browser, as far as I know.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/3 "2002-11-17T20:25:48Z")

</div>

Heh, it’s just that my formatting get’s messed up with larger fonts…And I’d like to avoid images in this situation.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/4 "2002-11-17T20:28:56Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duderdude2 \*  
> Is there a way to fix the font on a page so it cannot be enlarged or shrunk by any browser (for example, the font size commands in IE)? Thanks!

You can’t.

Learn to live with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/5 "2002-11-17T20:44:16Z")

</div>

I’d say there’s a problem with your formatting then. It may be possible to fix this, if you want advice.

A lot of pages say things like “this page looks best if you view it at 800 × 600 resolution”. As long as it’s readable with larger fonts, I don’t see anything wrong with your saying, “this page looks best if you don’t resize the font.” At least then people will know why it looks screwed up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/6 "2002-11-17T21:01:22Z")

</div>

There’s nothing wrong with my formatting!! =P

I have a table split into two vertical cells, which is inside an IFram about a 1/4 the size of the page. I have the radio button form in the right cell and text in the left. However, when the text is enlarged, my neat and tidy radio buttons with the text following it are forced onto a 2nd line below it, thus making the page look terrible.

I know there’s a way to fix the text size…I’ve seen it done before.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/7 "2002-11-17T21:12:05Z")

</div>

Yeah, but I’m running Linux at home with a mostly default font set. Thus, your text may end up looking really, really tiny on my screen. If I can’t read it, and I can’t enlarge it, I’ll probably ignore your page.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/8 "2002-11-17T21:14:02Z")

</div>

Dude, I can’t totally visualize what you’re saying that well, but it sounds like you have content which reads back and forth not only between different cells of a table, but between different frames. If so, you really are set on inconveniencing people, aren’t you? 😛

Well, I’ve certainly never seen what you describe before. Are you sure you weren’t just using a bad browser? 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/9 "2002-11-17T21:16:58Z")

</div>

[www.nintendovision.com](http://www.nintendovision.com)

Click “Subscribe”.  
That is what I’m talking about.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/10 "2002-11-17T21:37:04Z")

</div>

You’re using a spacer gif (which is 404, BTW). There’s something wrong with your formatting. 😛

But seriously, it’s not so bad. All it does is wrap to the next line. What’s the big deal?

It occurs to me that you have your radio buttons and concomitant text in a one-column layout table, but you’re using non-breaking spaces for spacing. Why don’t you put it into a two-column table? The content looks made for it. It may fix your wraparound problem too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/11 "2002-11-17T21:45:18Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Achernar \*  
> \*\*You’re using a spacer gif (which is 404, BTW). There’s something wrong with your formatting. 😛
> 
> But seriously, it’s not so bad. All it does is wrap to the next line. What’s the big deal?
> 
> It occurs to me that you have your radio buttons and concomitant text in a one-column layout table, but you’re using non-breaking spaces for spacing. Why don’t you put it into a two-column table? The content looks made for it. It may fix your wraparound problem too. \*\*

Thanks, but what do you mean by a “two-column table”, how’s that different from what I’m using currently?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/12 "2002-11-17T21:56:07Z")

</div>

Okay, right now you’ve got this:

```auto

<tr>
<th align=left><img>

<input> 1 Month &nbsp; &nbsp; - $9.95
</td></tr>

```

I’m suggesting something like this:

```auto

<tr>
<td align=left><img>

<input> 1 Month
</td> 
<td>
- $9.95
</td></tr>

```

Put the duration of the subscription and the price in separate cells. (I’m not sure if there’s some difference between td and th here, so I changed the tag to match, but I don’t think it matters.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/13 "2002-11-18T00:13:23Z")

</div>

You can size things with pixels and IE won’t be able to resize them. But Mozilla and Opera will be able to (because they’re smarter like that).

You should be designing for accessibility anyway. If it’s that much of an inconvenience, rethink your design. The idea is to get content to the user first and look pretty second. Also, you have to understand that not everybody will be visiting your site in IE 5 on Windows 98 at 800x600 (or whatever) and that there are a great number of methods for viewing content on the web that you have to consider.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/14 "2002-11-18T00:45:39Z")

</div>

You could also use nobr tags to keep the size of the font from making a line break, but that would make people have to scroll sideways at larger font sizes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Snetho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Snetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snetho)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/15 "2002-11-18T00:56:27Z")

</div>

Use a style sheet.

\<html\>  
\<head\>  
\<title\>CSS TEST\</title\>  
\<style\>  
.tester {  
color:#4866a6;  
font-size:2pc;  
}  
\</style\>  
\</head\>  
\<body\>  
\<table\>  
\<tr class=“tester”\>  
\<td\>Hello, how are you?\</td\>  
\</tr\>  
\</table\>  
\</body\>  
\</html\>

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/html-text-size/137195/16 "2002-11-18T01:26:22Z")

</div>

Operating under the assumption that you don’t _really_ want to keep people from resizing, but you really want to maintain your cool layout…

I was going to post what **Dragonblink** did, except I was going to suggest using the “nowrap” attribute of a “td” or “th” element. I couldn’t find any information on “nobr”. Beware, nowrap is deprecated, but it doesn’t look like you’re too worried about that.

**Snetho** , I’m not sure what your HTML code there is supposed to do, but I made it into a document, and I could resize it just fine.
