[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #12825: Largest minimum text size in FF prefs makes admin display terrible

[WordPress Trac]

#12825: Largest minimum text size in FF prefs makes admin display terrible
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 Reporter:  jane                                 |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)                         |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Future
Component:  Accessibility                        |  Release
 Severity:  normal                               |     Version:  2.9.2
 Keywords:  text font zoom has-patch 2nd-        |  Resolution:
  opinion                                        |
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Comment (by adamsilverstein):

 Thanks for your reply, i appreciate the input. comments below.

 Replying to [comment:10 grahamarmfield]:
 > Replying to [comment:9 adamsilverstein]:
 > > the attached patch swaps out ems for pixels in all font heights, line
 heights and some heights in wp-admin.css. on my test platform the
 dashboard looked better than the ticket openers, but i'm on a mac and
 didn't test on a pc.
 >
 > I'd be really cautious about using px to define font sizes - we may be
 preventing some users in some browsers from resizing their text at all
 which would be worse. I think it's a bad idea for that reason.


 just to clarify: i removed the existing hard coded pixel heights/sizes and
 swapped them out with em values (based on 16px=1em, true on most modern
 browsers, except safari, as far as i know).



 > >
 > > here is the dashboard with firefox font minimum set to max size,
 without the patch: http://www.earthbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01
 /Screen-Shot-2013-01-14-at-3.28.01-PM.jpg
 > > and after: http://www.earthbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01
 /Screen-Shot-2013-01-14-at-3.54.50-PM.jpg
 > >
 >
 > Having seen some people with low vision who rely on font resizing within
 their browsers I'd say that some would want the text to be even larger
 than the first example, let alone your second example.

 although switching to ems has other implications, this specific ticket
 deals with increasing firefox's ''minimum font size'' setting, and setting
 it to the maximum possible value, 24pixels. i was testing specifically
 against that setting.

 this is different than using the browser's zoom feature. my patch doesn't
 yet address the horizontal issue; to fix the horizontal fit issues, the
 patch needs another pass with all column widths changed from hard coded
 pixel widths to % widths.


 >
 > > it looks like the left column needs to grow as well, but thats more
 complicated (i tried), so far i just changed all the font sizes and
 heights (no widths).
 >
 > I think you've hit the nail on the head here - it's that the design
 needs to change to be able to incorporate people's requirements for
 wanting text to be very large. The left column may need to grow, but
 certainly the toolbar at the top needs to be able to stretch down to
 accommodate large text which may of course force items on to a second
 line. The Help and Screen Options links need their backgrounds to allow
 resizing - as do the headings for each individual widget.
 >
 > I believe that those who need text to be large will accept pages looking
 a bit odd as long as the pages are usable.
 >

 agreed, but if the css is done correctly the look should remain good from
 small to huge font sizes.  i think i fixed the widget headings in my
 latest posted version, still needs more work.

 > >
 > > i tested this patch in latest firefox & chrome & it looks fine, in
 safari i got smaller text overall, but still quite usable, looks like
 safari is treating 1em=14px, other browsers 1em=16px; didn't check ANY ie
 versions to see how they behave.
 >
 > IE testing is vital for patches concerning accessibility. As much as we
 developers hate IE, it is the browser of choice for many people with
 impairments as the accessibility options are good (and easier to find).
 Also much assistive technology including screen readers, speech
 recognition and screen magnifiers etc work best with IE.

 yes - i'm all for ie testing, i was just commenting that ie testing
 because it needs to be done and i didn't fo it yet... i was mainly testing
 firefox with the min font size bumped up to 24px as per the ticket.

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12825#comment:11>
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