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Formatting text

Font sizes

It is possible in HTML to set the font size that will appear on screen. In fact using style sheets (CSS = cascading style sheets) the size can be specified to the exact pixel size, however this is not recommended. Users may be using a variety of browser settings to optimise the screen display for their needs, and setting fixed font sizes will override browser settings.

If font sizes are set in a style sheet, it is possible for the user to override the style sheet in the browser settings, however this will also remove any other formatting you have set in a style sheet. It is preferable to leave font sizes as default and use HTML heading tags to create appropriately sized headings etc.

Jakob Nielsen on font size: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020819.html

When saving Microsoft MS Word documents as HTML, the resulting file will often have specified font sizes. The file must be imported into a web editor such as Dreamweaver to remove the font formatting: see ‘Converting MS Word documents’ for more information.

Style sheets

Using style sheets to control other formatting attribute such as text colour, weight, indenting etc is preferable to directly formatting the text. You will need to create and edit style sheets in a web editor such as Dreamweaver, or create a MS Word document with styles that translate appropriately when saving for the web (see ‘Converting MS Word documents’).

For more information about style sheets (CSS) in HTML, see ‘Web Design & Construction: Style Sheets’: http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/inter/dload/webmedia/web_design/styles.html.

Using tables

Tables are often useful for laying out of text or data, and may enhance legibility if used well. Tables generally convert quite well from MS Word documents to HTML, although there are some points to be aware of:

• Tables generated by MS Word will have a fixed width - ie, will not change size when you change the size of the browser window. Columns and rows will also have fixed sizes attached. If this is not what you want, you will need to use a web editor to remove that formatting.
• Empty table cells do not display in some web browsers - you will need to add an invisible character inside the cell to retain the cell borders, colour etc.
• The table should be identified as either a data or layout table, and have row and column headers identified, so that screen readers will be able to make sense of the table. This cannot be done in MS Word, but may be done in Dreamweaver.
• Always create tables in MS Word or Dreamweaver, rather than use a scanned image of a table, which is completely inaccessible to anyone using a screen reader.

  > converting MS Word documents