Critique CSS layout (issues addressed)

lime wrote:

For you it may be wastage (such a pessimist aren't you ;o)) for me it was
limiting the length of text for readability.

Here's a quote on the subject:

"Line length
The recommended number of characters in a
line does not vary between the medium of
paper and screen, however. A range of 65–75
characters per line is a comfortable maximum
for a single column of text in print, with a
range of 30-40 characters per line common in
multicolumn layouts. The reason for this maximum
is based on the characteristics of our
visual system. We scan a line of text in groups
of letters, first picking up the exterior shapes of
word groups, then decoding words as our eye
bounces along from left to right. The sweeping
motion of turning our eye back to the left
becomes increasingly difficult as the line gets
longer. Our ability to pick the start of the next
line is decreased by combinations of long lines,
tight line spacing, and lack of white space on
the left-hand margin."

This is from
http://www.kahnplus.com/download/pdf...teractions.pdf, which has
lots of discussion of text presentation considerations.

Another rule of thumb I vaguely recall is that line length in any given
font should not exceed the length of the combined upper and lower case
alphabet in that font.

In either case, you have to express the desired max-width in terms of
ems, so that it will scale with the choice of font and font size. And
the results will vary a bit depending on which font is actually used by
the browser. Max-width: 30em seems to come pretty close for most cases
I tested.

And, of course, the browser has to support max-width...

Chris Beall

*Chris Beall* <Chris_Beall (AT) prodigy (DOT) net>:

In either case, you have to express the desired max-width in terms of
ems, so that it will scale with the choice of font and font size.

'ex' should be even more appropriate.

Max-width: 30em seems to come pretty close for most cases

Although it comes often close to the traditional recommendation, it's too
narrow, because scrolling is also a (negative) factor, that doesn't have
to be considered in paged media, where it's easier to find the next first
word of a page or column.

--
"The squeaking wheel doesn't always get the grease.
Sometimes it gets replaced."
Vic Gold

Christoph Paeper wrote:
(snip)

'ex' should be even more appropriate.

Agreed. That might resolve a problem I had with a couple of the fonts I
tested. 'ex' hasn't been brought up much here; I had to go look it up.

Max-width: 30em seems to come pretty close for most cases


Although it comes often close to the traditional recommendation, it's
too narrow, because scrolling is also a (negative) factor, that doesn't
have to be considered in paged media, where it's easier to find the
next first word of a page or column.

We're into a very subjective area here. I see two conflicting goals.
To minimize the NEED for vertical scrolling, we want the longest
possible line length, so as to get as much text as possible 'above the
fold', but once scrolling is required, we've aggravated the normal
printed-media situation, since all of our visual reference points will
jump during the scroll, giving our visual system a real challenge to
keep its place. That would argue for shorter-than-print-media lines.

Since we can't control the window or font size, I'd vote for assuming
that we have little control over what stays above the fold and thus
should assume vertical scrolling WILL be needed and thus opt for short
line lengths. But that's my abstract opinion. In any given case I'd
want to look at the page in totality to see what works best (under a
wide variety of conditions).

30em or about 65ex seems like a good starting point.

Chris Beall

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 04:00:12 GMT, Chris Beall <Chris_Beall (AT) prodigy (DOT) net>
wrote:

Christoph Paeper wrote:
(snip)
'ex' should be even more appropriate.

Agreed. That might resolve a problem I had with a couple of the fonts I
tested. 'ex' hasn't been brought up much here; I had to go look it up.

Not agreed. I spent sometime investigating this and came to the
conclusion that ex was no improvement at all. It might be for some
specific fonts, but worse for other fonts - and for most browsers it
just seems irrelevant anyway. See
http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/emex.html


--
Stephen Poley

http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/