Chris Barker wrote
> Your peeve is a reasonable one, but its cause is MS rather than web
> designers. It is too much to assume standards will be followed across
> the Internet, but for MS to have gone their own way was very annoying.
Although I accept that MS often deviate from internationally agreed
standards, I do not think that that is the cause of the problem in this
case. The cause of the problem is that the tool that you are using is
generating web pages that have fixed-sized fonts, and (important bit, this)
fixed-size layouts.
I have just had a quick look the source for your St Peter's home page. It
contains fixed font sizes (example: "font:12px"), and fixed layouts
(example: "width:500px; height:800px"). Those layout values are no doubt
correct if the font size is 12px, but what happens when I come along and
change the size of the font that my web browser uses? The text changes
appropriately, but the layout values do not change, so one ends up with
overlapping text, or text extending outside boxes, and so on. Note that
changing font size (or text size) is NOT the same as zooming in to the web
page -- changing font/text size does not change the size of the graphic and
pictorial elements on the page, whereas zooming DOES change the size of the
graphic and pictorial elements.
In IE7, MS provide the capability for the user to choose to have the web
browser ignore font sizes in web pages. I would speculate that this helps
MS comply with disabilities legislation in various parts of the world (that
is, MS must not discriminate against users who have mechanical or optical
disabilities). I would further speculate that the majority of recent web
browsers must provide the same capability if they are commercial, since they
would have to comply with the same disabilities legislation. (Open source
web browsers that are free would not be subject to disabilities legislation,
although no doubt the good folk who maintain and enhance those browsers
would try hard to provide the necessary facilities). If your Mac is recent,
have a look at the browser options to see if there is one to ignore font
sizes in web pages, then view your St Peter's home page with different font
sizes selected.
When I was designing and constructing my web site last year (don't bother to
look at it -- it is not a picture web site), I took great care to avoid
fixed values. Things like margin sizes and border sizes can safely have
fixed values, but for the important layout values I use percentages
(example: "width: 50%"). The only layout value that I fix is the page
width, which I set to 610px (I do this to avoid unreadably-long lines when
the browser window is maximised). However, I coded the web pages for my
site manually, so I have complete control over page layout. I am not
suggesting that you should do likewise.
-- from Dr HTML in the UK
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