Vision
They say that one of the tell-tale signs that you’re getting older is when your eyes just aren’t working like they used to. If you think about, we take our vision for granted and that’s because there’s rarely a moment when someone will ponder whether or not their eyesight will ever fail them. Rather, we just are under the impression that like our health, our eyes will never stray from being in good working condition and that we’ll never have to resort to glasses or contacts, or anything that we’d need to depend on to flip through the pages of a book or refrain from tripping over a fire hydrant.
Earlier this morning I had my first eye appointment and when the nurse informed me that she would be administering eyedrops, I just nodded and tilted my head back. She then informed me that my eyes would become dialated and that everything would be extremely blurry up close. Again, I just nodded and was told to return to the waiting room to wait for the Doctor. A few minutes later, my eyes became extra sensitive to light and I noticed when I moved my palm close to my face that I couldn’t see anything except for a skin-toned blur. Sitting there, with poor vision due to the eyedrops, it made me think about various concerns I’ve often thought about.
In recent years, with the advent of technology, things are only getting smaller in size including the text we read on our computer screens. Unless one were to realize this initially while developing user interfaces for those with slightly poorer vision, I believe things will only become worse.
Despite this concern, I have seen various kiosks and web sites that use larger onscreen text, but some of these are only in effect because of a trend that I call “Biggie Size”, wherein the designer has decided to use larger text because it’s the “in” thing to do, not necessarily because it might help those with poorer eyesight.
It’s certainly something to take into consideration, not only because it looks cool or earn you high fives from your peers but that it might actually be more readable for those straining their eyes because of smaller text. Yet, where do we begin as designers as far as a baseline text size for onscreen reading? There’s been several debates on this topic, many of which never really draw a specific conclusion or answer to a perfectly legible text size for any reader. There’s good reason for this, mainly the fact that unless it’s a “one size fits all” t-shirt or baseball cap, I don’t think there will ever be a golden answer to that question.
Taking that into account, this is why various web sites utilize em or percentage text scaling instead of pixel perfect (px) sizing, allowing the reader the ability to increase or decrease the onscreen text. I had a discussion the other day with my friend and fellow 9ruler Peter Flaschner, who mentioned that the font size on kartooner was too small for his tastes, so he sent me a screenshot where he increased the font size to his liking.
I had no qualms with Peter doing this, especially considering that I sized everything according to a baseline font size of “small”. Everything else is scaled according to a specific percentage, including the body text (what you’re reading now) which is set at 95% of small. I could set the percentage higher and I’ve considered it, but I’m not sure if I’ll receive a complaint that the font size is too large. It’s at this point where I’m trying to figure out how to meet the needs of those who have good vision and those whose vision isn’t quite what it used to be.
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
Bryan Peters
I’ve thought about this quite a bit lately - how much control do we as designers really feel we need to have? Every year that passes (I’m currently 29) I notice I prefer sites that are easier to read, and the sites I create reflect that. My contact prescription hasn’t changed in the last decade, but the time I spend behind a monitor has. And I definitely appreciate sites that let me resize the fonts to my liking.
Oct 24th, 2005
Eric
There’s always going to be a user that wants bigger text. I try as hard as I can to make sure that the pages I build don’t break when the text is resized, but I still have to build things that meet current standards of good graphic design for a large corporate client. This means, mostly, that all my font sizes are small or less. I think, in the end, that it’s up to the users to resize if they want, and to the browser makers to make this easy (hint, IE, put it back on the toolbar!) In the end, it’s not my job to hold a user’s hand, it’s my job to make sure that it’s possible for them to have access to my page.
The average user has come a long way in understanding how to use web technology; certainly they can learn how to resize text if that’s a need they have.
Me, I like tiny fonts :)
Oct 24th, 2005
beto
I personally find the text on your site a bit smaller than I’m used to for large chunks of text. Must be the fact of being past 30. Dang.
Thank goodness Firefox and Command- plus key / minus key exist :D
Oct 25th, 2005
kartooner
In accordance to some suggestions on here and what I shared above, I’ve changed the text size on the body copy to 100% of small. Hopefully that’ll help out those who feel the need to increase the text size.
Although, I agree with what’s been said here. As I mentioned, I don’t think there will ever be a golden number as far as text size is concerned, which is why it’s important to allow for text sizing. I believe the only browser that doesn’t support this is Internet Explorer 6 (and versions below), unless you use percentages or em units.
In fact, I used to like how Opera handled text sizing (or page zooming), by increasing both the text and images, but lately I’m not content with that technique as it makes the site design look blurry due to images being set at fixed widths and heights.
Oct 25th, 2005
Matt (brother)
It was damn MEGAZEUX and ZZT.. Damn small fonts with their little happy face guy editing pixel after pixel to create a game that a select few would play.. :-D Damn them!
Oct 25th, 2005
anon
Wow, you’ve touched a sore spot for me. Having a hole in one retina and being amblyopic in the other eye (i.e. blind), I am constantly hitting the “View” button on the browser and making the font size bigger. However, this doesn’t work on all sites. Sometimes it just plays havoc with the design. Even my own site suffers from this when enlarged on a 15″ screen.
At work, I’m getting a 19″ flat screen so I don’t have to strain quite so much. Wish I could afford that at home.
Having said all that, I don’t think that it’s the designer’s problem, since the user can make adjustments. There is no “magic number” and I don’t think that you need stress over it.
Nov 2nd, 2005
stefan
I am only a month away from reaching the golden age of 41 and have noticed over the last year that I’ve had trouble reading small fonts. Especially since I’ve gone back to school to work on a third degree. I have to hold a textbook at arms length just to focus on the small text.
I finally broke down and admitted I needed help. I went to the optometrist and now have a pair of glasses that I wear when at the library or at home to read those textbooks. What a world of difference when I put them on. I still reluctantly wear them at school. I’m old enough and vanity doesn’t want to give another physical appearance of old age to the whippersnappers around me.
Font size? My first thought was that a person could increase the font size using their browser. However, I wasn’t aware that it wouldn’t automatically work on all sites.
I may look at my font size over the coming weeks and play around with it with a little more consciousness and awareness that others might need the font a little bit bigger.
Nov 3rd, 2005
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