# Why does choosing "size one" make font bigger now? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 6, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022 "2011-05-06T23:12:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/1 "2011-05-06T23:12:09Z")
On other boards choosing size one makes the font smaller, but for a while now here, it makes it bigger than the default too…which is not useful at all. watch: size one font normal font It _used to_ work properly, and size two was the default size ftr, but not for the past few months. Can someone change it back so posts like [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13747212&postcount=1) (with its intended smaller font at the end) look right again? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/2 "2011-05-06T23:18:24Z")
It looks bigger to you? Not to me. The size 1 font in your post looks decidedly smaller than the normal font and it looks identical the the size 1 in your link. Could your browser be rendering it differently? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/3 "2011-05-06T23:45:22Z")
Your referenced post looks as expected to me (with the size 1 being itsy-bitsy). Using Firefox 4.01, Windows XP. What are you using? Size 1 Size 2 Size 3 Size 4 Size 5 Size 6 Size 7 ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/4 "2011-05-07T00:07:11Z")
**Canadjun** ’s post looks as well as the OP looks right to me, using Firefox, Chrome and IE on Windows 7. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/5 "2011-05-07T00:56:32Z")
It’s a font problem with your OS and/or browser. The OP looks fine from Windows, but from linux it is as described, with the size one font being larger than the other fonts. It’s been that way forever, and isn’t unique to the SDMB. You could probably tweak your installed fonts and/or browser preferences to avoid it. Me, I’ve never cared enough. (I’m super lazy.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/6 "2011-05-07T00:58:04Z")
**elfkin** , I think you might have your glasses on backwards.😉 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/7 "2011-05-07T01:34:09Z")
It’s the social bookmark buttons. The default font on the SDMB for me is now Papyrus. At least it makes everybody seem wise, in an enlightened noble savage way. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/8 "2011-05-07T05:33:48Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > It’s a font problem with your OS and/or browser. The OP looks fine from Windows, but from linux it is as described, with the size one font being larger than the other fonts. While I agree that it is a font/browser issue, it’s not a generic linux problem. The page displays fine on the computer I am typing this on, which is running fedora linux and firefox 3.6. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/9 "2011-05-07T08:31:09Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > While I agree that it is a font/browser issue, it’s not a generic linux problem. The page displays fine on the computer I am typing this on, which is running fedora linux and firefox 3.6. Right. The problem with Linux is that it doesn’t come with certain fonts, and you have to go out and get them. I’d say you need to install [mscorefonts](http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/) (look it up in your package manager before using my link) and then change your browser preferences to use one of the newly installed fonts. Those are the fonts that every web browser is supposed to have–but many Linux distros do not include them because, while they are free as beer, they are not free as in freedom. If you are not using Linux, you still may not have all the proper web fonts, so it won’t hurt to download and install [the individual fonts](http://sourceforge.net/projects/corefonts/files/the%20fonts/final/). There’s also a possibility that it isn’t fonts and some file is missing. Unfortunately, I don’t have a system set up to test that. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/10 "2011-05-07T16:31:06Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > While I agree that it is a font/browser issue, it’s not a generic linux problem. The page displays fine on the computer I am typing this on, which is running fedora linux and firefox 3.6. It’s not universal, but I’ve seen it using multiple versions of Redhat and Firefox over the past several years. These are work computers, though, where I haven’t had any say in the configuration – I’m sure it could be fixed by installing the appropriate fonts (or even by changing the fonts used by Firefox by default), but as I said, I’m lazy. My main point is that this is something on the OP’s side, not on the server side. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/11 "2011-06-02T02:24:15Z")
Hey, now it’s fixed! I think it might have something to do with the spell-checker that magically appeared as an option (other people using IE have that now too, right? a button that if you click it the first time prompts you to download iespell? and after that spellchecks everything in your posts, of course) on vB boards a few months ago: since updating it today the size one font is smaller than size two again. Yay! I’ll have to update it on my PC tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/12 "2011-06-02T07:30:19Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Hey, now it’s fixed! I think it might have something to do with the spell-checker that magically appeared as an option (other people using IE have that now too, right? a button that if you click it the first time prompts you to download iespell? and after that spellchecks everything in your posts, of course) on vB boards a few months ago: since updating it today the size one font is smaller than size two again. Yay! I’ll have to update it on my PC tomorrow. In that case, it was likely a bug in IE that they fixed at the same time as adding the spell check feature. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/13 "2011-06-02T13:27:04Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > It’s the social bookmark buttons. The default font on the SDMB for me is now Papyrus. At least it makes everybody seem wise, in an enlightened noble savage way. Giving that a try: > [@elmwood](#): > > It’s the social bookmark buttons. The default font on the SDMB for me is now Papyrus. At least it makes everybody seem wise, in an enlightened noble savage way. Huh. You’ve got a point there, **elmwood**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-choosing-size-one-make-font-bigger-now/581022/14 "2011-06-02T14:23:05Z")
It’s been that way for me for a while now, and I’m on Windows XP running Firefox 4. Was that way on Firefox 3 as well. I suspect it’s because I’ve played around with size settings in Windows and Firefox due to my bad vision, but I’m not sure. **Canadjun** ’s post - all the sizes get bigger, and all of them are bigger than the default font. Switching to the IE rendering option in Firefox makes size 1 look the same as the default font.