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ThePacielloGroup / inclusive-design-principles

A set of principles for designing inclusive web interfaces.
http://inclusivedesignprinciples.org/
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Font size feels too large on desktop landscape view #50

Closed patrickhlauke closed 7 years ago

patrickhlauke commented 7 years ago

Purely subjective, but: I usually browse with my browser maximised on a widescreen desktop. Currently, due to the font calculation using vw, the text ends up larger than what I'd like...I get a very claustrophobic feeling of just peeking through a letter-box at the page. This makes it difficult to read, and particularly to skim read (same issue I have with our current auto-generated CI reports). I usually end up zooming out to make it a bit more pleasant.

Current (note particularly how much bigger the text is compared to, say, the URL field in the browser's chrome)

inclusivedesign1

Zoomed out, showing a bit more content/context when reading (though the ample margins/padding still make it quite disjointed)

inclusivedesign2

patrickhlauke commented 7 years ago

Solution may involve finding a balance of not just using vw, but combining vw with vh and/or checking the aspect ratio of the browser?

iheni commented 7 years ago

Will review post launch but I am inclined to agree. I understand that larger fonts are what modern web design is all about (and indeed have just started wearing glasses) but this is a little too big for me too.

iheni commented 7 years ago

@LJWatson looking into this with Alistair Campbell.

iheni commented 7 years ago

Leaving as is for now.

patrickhlauke commented 7 years ago

Shame, as it does really feel far too large on widescreen. What did Alistair say that swung it?

Heydon commented 7 years ago

@patrickhlauke I don't believe Alistair has had a chance to look at it yet. In any case, since I already reduced the font size and we haven't heard any concerns from other folks, I felt this was low priority.

I like to provide fonts a bit larger than average so that those with vision impairments can read the content more easily without having to adjust anything. In comparison, I think the inability to achieve an ideal overview of the content is not as important. And is nevertheless achievable by zooming out if desired.

patrickhlauke commented 7 years ago

sure, but the principle of not just looking at vw, but a combo of vw and vh, is nonetheless a sound one I'd say. feel free to tweak the actual values/weights, but - particularly for a page that's mostly vertical, it feels strange to just consider width. while keeping the window height fixed, this simply results in the font going bigger and bigger when i make the window wider, which feels bizarre.

anyway, up to you...