# Size = 1 does not make a font small anymore (or was it supposed to ever do that?) **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 11, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271 "2006-06-11T03:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/1 "2006-06-11T03:17:59Z")
\*(replacing “[” with “{” to prevent the code from hiding) \* It was a nice shortcut to instead of typing {sub} text {/sub} one could select **Size** command and select 1 to get a result like this: [sub]Small text[/sub] But now, for more than a month, you get: A text that it is not so small when one selects Size=1 Did I imagine that size=1 was to make the size of the font small? I’m leaning to say no, because it seems other dopers thought that was the case, I saw other dopers in posts that suddenly say out loud items that were supposed to be said softly like here: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7438996&postcount=873](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7438996&postcount=873) So what did happen? was “size=1 = small text” just a bug that got corrected? ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/2 "2006-06-11T03:24:25Z")
I’m viewing your post with Firefox (WinXP, SP2), and the size 1 text is smaller than the ‘small’ text, and in the link you provided the size 1 text is also nice and small. What browser, etc., are you using? Test? \<— quite small [sub]Test?[/sub] \<-- small, but not as small as the above. * * * \<\< Abandon all hope, ye who PRESS ENTER here. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/3 "2006-06-11T03:27:12Z")
I’m using Opera 9.00 (Beta), and your text appears smaller to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/4 "2006-06-11T03:33:45Z")
> [@Nightsong](#): > > I’m viewing your post with Firefox (WinXP, SP2), and the size 1 text is smaller than the ‘small’ text, and in the link you provided the size 1 text is also nice and small. > > What browser, etc., are you using? Internet Explorer 6.0 Well I’ll be, I open the page now in Firefox and you are right: I can see the small text now. It is still big in IE6, to give you an idea, the font at size=1 in IE6 appears like the size=3 in Firefox: Test ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/5 "2006-06-11T03:38:15Z")
IE handles the size tag wrong, if the browser’s text size is set to anything other than medium. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/6 "2006-06-11T03:45:01Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > IE handles the size tag wrong, if the browser’s text size is set to anything other than medium. Now that makes the noggin click… recently I had a nasty encounter with a virus or trojan and after hours of cleanup, the font size looked strange… Sure enough, under view/text size the thing was on largest and a different font from the times roman. Everything is ok now. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/7 "2006-06-11T06:20:10Z")
Interesting. I’m using Safari, and in **Nightsong** ’s example, the first (quite small) is no different than the normal text, but, the sub tag, (small, but not…) is smaller. > [@Nightsong](#): > > Test? \<— quite small > Test? ← small, but not as small as the above. I noticed about a month ago that the size=1 tag no longer worked for me. So, I just use [sub]sub tags[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/size-1-does-not-make-a-font-small-anymore-or-was-it-supposed-to-ever-do-that/360271/8 "2006-06-11T14:01:42Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Internet Explorer 6.0 > > Well I’ll be, I open the page now in Firefox and you are right: I can see the small text now. It is still big in IE6, to give you an idea, the font at size=1 in IE6 appears like the size=3 in Firefox: > > Test The size 1 font also appears larger in Firefox depending on your default settings.