Plea for larger font sizes

"I can't read!"
This is a plea for all Web designers and e-newsletter editors to please use a font large enough to read, preferably a sans-serif. A nice, smooth arial size 16px is lovely; perhaps we should all consider it?
Maybe I'm just spending too much time on the computer...I'm getting nose-prints on my screen. :wink;

While I don't disagree with you (Age 54, post cataract surgery...) it's not realistic to expect younger designers (19 inch LCD running at 2048x3096 resolution) to be able to stand looking at elephant-type just to make us old geezers happy.

The perfect world would have all sites sporting settings on-each page that allow you to click and change the base font size. I see some with 3-4 different sized letter "A"s that do this.

Until all these youngsters start taking the grandkids on the weekend and start making their sites more adaptable and readable (No more locked 6 px dark blue Verdana, on a dark green background) there is an option for us with most sites:

Hold down the control key and hit either the "+" or "-" to change the font size. For those that are control-key challenged there is usually an option under VIEW-TEXT SIZE from the browser menu.

I also often use Control-A to highlight everything on the page and this often uncovers text the designer is trying to hide so as not to distract from their exquisite design work...!

Well, I have to say that as a 29-year-old geezer myself, I agree with Cate! (I'm pushing 30, by the way.)

Too many sites these days use small fonts, which I have trouble reading. Sometimes they do this in an effort to maximize the amount of content squeezed into the page, while at other times it's done purely for aesthetic reasons.

More and more, people with 20/20 vision are being challenged by sites that use small text. And to make matters worse, gone are the days where sites employ the traditional black text on a white background. Now, too many sites use gray text that is nearly camouflaged by the background. A low-contrast experience that often forces you to squint to barely make out the text -- even with your glasses on.

Fortunately, as Chris mentioned, the text-size controls in your browser can alleviate this problem.

But to all sites out there using small text, please keep in mind your target audience. It's one thing if a site targets a younger crowd, but if your audience is senior citizens, here's an important useability tip: your site should be sporting a 12-point font size and black-on-white background -- provide a high-contrast experience.

Don't challenge your visitors to figure out how to read your site. Best to make the text easily readable, by default.

Yann

Surfers with sight imairments or age related dimming (I'm in the 40+ group myself and have taken to wearing reading glasses) should try using some of the alternative web browsers such as Firefox or Opera. They allow you to simply hold down your "Ctrl" key and then use your mouse's scroll wheel to instantly change font size. Opera makes the entire page larger. Remember everything is relative as far as type size goes on the web.

You guys are great! My browser is not. It completely ignores both "ctrl +" and "view->text size->larger." What am I doing wrong, operator stupidity?
G-g-g-glasses...? Yikes, I'm only 45 and already deep in denial!

Cate, you need to break out of your denial -- please consider going to a "Glasses Anonymous" support group in your area. LOL :tongue;

Kidding aside, are you using Internet Explorer 6 or above? Strange that it ignores these commands. I know that in IE you need to go into View -> Text Size -> Larger. I use Firefox and just hit "CTRL +" in the browser, but this command doesn't work in IE.

There appears to be a known bug in older versions of IE, in which the style sheet on certain sites prevents you from enlarging the text. Best to update to the latest version of the browser, if you haven't done so yet.

Please keep us posted on this...

Yann

I don't know if your problem is this, but there are sites that are coded so that you cannot change the font size. I'm not talking about ones that have text in graphics, but ones that use CSS or something else that does not allow you to change the size. They bite...

"They bite"? Yikes! LOL
Hmmm, did I do something wrong then, on my Web site? I set the font size to 16px. Will your browser change sizes for you? www.willpowerinc.org

I don't know what browser version I'm using (what a DORK I am!). Errr, how do you tell? The command prompt c:\ (yes, I'm old enough to remember basica) only tells me the ver of my os.

I looked at the new browsers available from Microsoft; if I download the latest free update, will it goof up anything on my pc? Our Web site is on this machine and only this machine.