Ask HN: Website font's getting smaller overtime?
I've had this totally unscientific feeling lately that website are using smaller font size. I've been asking around and a few people told they had that feeling too.
Not really where to start looking I though about you, dear HNers.
Could it be a side effect of spreading use of reset stylesheets ? Or is that a trend to accommodate iphone users ? Or am I just dreaming ?
Thanks.
I'd say just the opposite, at least as far as design 'trends' go.
In the late nineties, every website I worked on had insufferably small type. This was primarily because the web was designed by graphic designers that were new to this web thing. They would often draw a box for someone else to fit the type in. Tables were the dominant method of aligning objects on the page.
Thankfully, we've gotten smarter since. We know that those "words" actually matter. They communicate and are highly scannable, often even better than obscure iconography or visual elements.
Services such as TypeKit http://typekit.com/ should provide everyone with the ability to design beautiful web pages with great typography, and anyone who cares about good typography tends to want that type to actually be read.
Check out virtually any new startup and you'll likely see large bold typefaces, short and concise phrases with a strong visual aesthetic leaning toward a minimalist style.
It could just be the further ease of implementation, and spread of information about, good typography implementation. When the Ruby-esque templates were first taking hold, I would've argued that fonts were getting bigger, or at least the headlines, but downloadable type on the web also offers different weights, which I think is perhaps the biggest change. Weights make a lot of sense in print, but I wonder if one the web we were somewhat better off, readability wise, with at least consistent weighting.