Re: Request

It's a good point, Dewayne.  In fact, Thomas Habing made the same
point a short while ago, and you'll find, I believe, that
"timem11.css" uses proportional rather than absolute font sizes.
Bear in mind that the style sheets aren't a fixed feature -
certainly not yet anyway - they're simply there to enable us to
view the files without the XML markup.  A secondary aspect of
this project could certainly be to tighten up the style sheets
attached to each file, and, ultimately, as the final DTDs are
developed, to create a suite of "master" style sheets appropriate
to specific *types* of document, rather than to specific
documents or small groups of documents, as is the case at the
moment.

So when you're marking up a document, feel free to either modify
one of the existing style sheets (giving it a new name of course)
or to create a brand new one.  I created the "anne11.css" style
sheet as a quick modification of an existing style sheet, and
intend revamping it with proportional font sizes when I've got
the time to do so - I'm an advocate of accessible design, and
wouldn't propose using fixed font sizes in anything intended for
general release.  :-)

In fact, I'd go so far as to say there's a job there for anyone
who would care to undertake it - work through the existing style
sheets converting absolute font sizes to appropriate relative
ones.  Even if what we've got now isn't what we end up with in 6
months time, it's probably still worth amending the existing
style sheets.  If anyone's interested, give me a shout.

Regards,
Donna
--
dms(at)zetnet.co.uk
Gutenberg at HWG
http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/gutenberg/

----- Original Message -----
From: Dewayne Cushman <DCushman(at)stewart.com>

> My request is for font formatting in the style sheets. I'm
personally
> involved with developing software for people vision
impairments, and I have
> noticed there are some potential problems with the current
style sheets.
> Mainly in the use of specific font size elements. By specifying
> font-size:12pt it over rides the browsers (IE5+) ability to
change the size
> of the font via the text size options. But if the style sheet
specifies
> font-size:large; font-size-extra small; etc. the browser is
able to
> proportionately adjust the size needed for those with low
vision. For
> default text size simple leave the font-size element out of the
definition,
> and let the browser determine the appropriate size. Yes it
gives up some of
> the "control" of display, but it adds some very powerful
abilities to the
> end user. Unfortunately, I only have the Windows IE5 version of
XML browser,
> so this may be a browser specific bug, but it is something we
need to
> consider as we go forward. I know we don't want to leave out 10
percent of
> the world population from being able to access the world's
greatest
> literature.

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