Ask HN: Have you noticed the subtle increase in font sizes around web?

10 points by vfistri2 3 years ago | 11 comments

Have you noticed the subtle increase in font sizes around web? I've been noticing it on especially on sites targeting programmers like hn it seems a lot more people are having vision problems

znpy 3 years ago |

I have definitely noticed that i cannot fcking resize a browser window anymore.

I’m on a large 24” display running at 1920x1200 resolution.

If I resize a browser window to make it smaller (you know, so i can multitask) now the css think’s I’m on mobile and rearranges everything as if I was on a phone.

It’s just awful.

marssaxman 3 years ago | |

I prefer to use a pair of portrait-mode browser windows, side by side, and it's amazing how many sites just assume that I must be on a phone and serve me a crippled version of the page.

So many things are made worse by people half-succeeding at cleverness.

znpy 3 years ago | | |

I hate the modern web so much.

iamflimflam1 3 years ago |

Maybe we're all getting older - I've been gradually increasing my font sizes as my eyesight has got worse.

beardyw 3 years ago | |

If by "we" you mean those who might be interested, that was my thought.

throwaway81523 3 years ago |

I haven't noticed. I'm old enough to generally find that the fonts are too small. I used to rail about wanting to kill javascript, but more recently I've come to believe that we should also kill CSS, since CSS messes up rendering if you change the font size or the window size. I use reader mode in preference to whatever the site designer wanted almost everywhere that I can.

thesnide 3 years ago |

higher dpi makes it usually smaller. So maybe web designers are just compensating?

I see a trend of microscopic fonts when screen sharing a 4k or more.

i guess that they didn't want to increase the system font size not to loose screen estate. But then the webfonts have to increase.

rcarr 3 years ago |

I think size 16 has become the de facto standard everywhere. Before it was a free for all so it might be that the majority of the web has now standardised and it is now becoming noticeable?

leros 3 years ago |

I have noticed the font sizes getting a bit larger in recent updates to a few of the UI frameworks that I use. It must be the standard new thing.

hunglee2 3 years ago |

LinkedIn articles have gone up several sizes - thought it was my settings but no, it's definitely upsizing

satvikpendem 3 years ago |

I haven't, where are you seeing it specifically?