Firefox and big fonts

Posted by: gusi on 04 September 2006

Hi All

I use firefox and like to browse with big fonts, usually two ctrl+ 's. (Showing my age I suppose)

I find that even though the fonts get bigger, the columns on most pages such as theage.com.au stay the same width.

Is there a way to adjust the column width?

I'd been drooling over one of these but if the columns don't widen up there isn't much point.

Btw is there a way to set the default font size? I couldn't see it under the tools-options.

I tried the "Read Easily" extension but it is not really what I am looking for.

cheers
Gus

Posted on: 04 September 2006 by David Dever

Moot point if the font size is set in pixels...

Posted on: 04 September 2006 by gusi

While X windows may still have fixed font sizes I thought that MS windows (I use XP) had flexible font sizes. I am not really an expert on graphics though.

The problem really comes down to that increasing the font size doesn't increase the column width.

Too many sites seem to use a fixed column width that seems to be a fixed number of pixels wide. ie if you drop resolution the column uses a larger part of the screen.

Posted on: 05 September 2006 by Stephen B

You'll get a much clearer image if you don't drool over your monitor.

Posted on: 05 September 2006 by Geoff C

Gusi

As Dave says, a large number of sites use a CSS style sheet which fixes the size of the font. This Forum uses 'auto stretch' for the width to allow for different browser sizes, whereas the main Naim site has a fixed width. As you are probably aware, Explorer has a text size ajustment under the 'view' button which is usually set to medium. With new laws regarding 'access for all', web designers need to consider their choice of text size very carefully!

Regards
Geoff

Posted on: 05 September 2006 by gusi

Is the fixed width also set in pixels? Then using a wide screen monitor would just give you wider margins!

Posted on: 05 September 2006 by Roy T

Gusi,
does the Firefox > tools > options > content > fonts & colours > advanced offer any insight into your problem? It has an "allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above" tick box and I reckon this area might be worth a few moments ticking and unticking boxes to see if things change for the better.

PS it might be an idea to note the settings prior to changing things

Posted on: 05 September 2006 by gusi

Thanks Roy,

I set it to sans serif 24 and it is loud and clear. I could make it a bit smaller perhaps.

Interestingly theage.com.au still has wide margins, theregister.co.uk spills off the RH edge and this forum fits nicely.

There a few alignment issues. I thought HTML is supposed to support different form factors? Unfortunately despite almost two decades in IT making web pages never grabbed really my interest.

cheers
Gus