Hello Gabi!

> First I want to thank everyone for their advice/opinions on the
> frames vs. tables issue I raised. 

Cool. I don't read threads with 'frames' in the subject line. :)

> Also I'd like to ask a favor for this question and future ones:
> Please don't tell me to drop everything and use CSS. I have been
> told rather firmly that we won't be supporting CSS at our company
> any time in the near future. I have no control or influence on this
> decision. 

Given the installed base of browsers out there I think it will take 
-years- for CSS to be 'required'.

> When dealing with the <font> tag, is it preferable to users to set
> the font sizes in relative or absolute sizes? Does setting relative
> sizes have any affect on layout if a person has defined their
> default font size to be anything other than 12 points? Is there any
> advantage at all to using absolute font sizes?

The default size is 3. Without changing BASEFONT, size="-1" and 
size=2 yield the same effect. But this has no relation to the user 
defined point size. Without changing size via HTML, the default 3 for 
one user might be 10pt, for another might be 16.

Yes it affects layout drastically because line breaks will happen in 
different places. Also varied by user browser window size. Which is 
why it's a poor idea to try to force layout with strategically placed 
<BR>s. Won't appear the same for most users, and in some cases can 
make things look -real- bad.

But back to the first question, I think it's a very poor idea to
fool with font sizes except in rare situations. The user (at least
those that can figure out how to do it [G]) will generally set their
default size to the smallest that yields comfortable reading. This
affords maximum information with minimised scrolling. Setting it
larger decreases the amount of text on the screen and forces more
frequent scrolling. Setting it smaller forces squint, or worst case
the user needs to change -their- setup just to read the page. This
is -very- common and bugs me no end, FONT SIZE=2 scattered
throughout pages.

So what is SIZE for? Default size is for common text. Increase font
size for emphasis where <Hx> isn't appropriate (and for many
browsers doesn't even change the size), for YELLING. Decrease font 
size for trivial text such as footers, copyright notices and such, 
and for ((((whispering)))). Other than that, no reason to mess with 
SIZE.

Mostly MHO. Have a :) day!

jim barchuk
mailto:jb(at)jbarchuk.com
http://www.jbarchuk.com

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