Calculating line height

Usually I specify a line height based on 120% or so, just as I would in
publishing distinguish between, say, an 11 point font and 13 point line height
leading. However, I am perplexed as to how the browsers do this by default. It
is more than 100% yet less than 120%. Does anyone know about this? Is it safer
to leave the setting at default? I have got a tight layout...

Paevo,

Usually I specify a line height based on 120% or so, just as I would in
publishing distinguish between, say, an 11 point font and 13 point line height
leading. However, I am perplexed as to how the browsers do this by default. It
is more than 100% yet less than 120%. Does anyone know about this? Is it safer
to leave the setting at default? I have got a tight layout...

The CSS2.1 recommends that user agents (e.g. browsers) use "a used value
for 'normal' between 1.0 to 1.2" (where 1.0 means 100%, and 1.2 means
120%), so there is some room for interpretation:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.h...ef-line-height

If you want to try to get your layout more consistent between browsers,
so you can really tighten things up, then try using a "reset" stylesheet:

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/20...eset-reloaded/

On an unrelated note, you should use a relative a font size like 'em'
instead of fixed point sizes so users can adjust the size to their own
screen resolution and eyesight.

HTH,
Randy

Paevo,

Usually I specify a line height based on 120% or so, just as I would in
publishing distinguish between, say, an 11 point font and 13 point line height
leading. However, I am perplexed as to how the browsers do this by default. It
is more than 100% yet less than 120%. Does anyone know about this? Is it safer
to leave the setting at default? I have got a tight layout...

The CSS2.1 recommends that user agents (e.g. browsers) use "a used value
for 'normal' between 1.0 to 1.2" (where 1.0 means 100%, and 1.2 means
120%), so there is some room for interpretation:

http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visudet.h...ef-line-height

If you want to try to get your layout more consistent between browsers,
so you can really tighten things up, then try using a "reset" stylesheet:

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/20...eset-reloaded/

On an unrelated note, you should use a relative a font size like 'em'
instead of fixed point sizes so users can adjust the size to their own
screen resolution and eyesight.

HTH,
Randy