Is there really any point to using relative font sizing in CSS?

Question

I\'ve read a lot about the pros and cons of sizing with either relative or absolute font sizes. Fixed sizes don\'t zoom in IE6 but that\'s not much of an issue these days. A

Answer 1

OS X and Windows handle at least pt font sizes differently so this is certainly a complete no-go. On the other hand, is there any good reason not to use relative font sizes? It's not really as if this were a weighted debate with good arguments on both sides. Rather, on one side are several advantages (that might not be apparent all the time). But on the other hand there are only apparent advantages that, upon the slightest probing, prove worthless.¹

Actually, I can only think of one argument for absolute font sizes, namely that it makes it easier to implement the CSS for a finished design, by copying the font sizes used in the design software. In reality, a consistent design will only use a handful of different font sizes that are simple ratios of each other (say, 80%) and can thus trivially be expressed in terms of em or %.

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¹⁾ You said:

or whether you want to be able to change a font size somewhere without affecting nested elements

What exactly do you mean by that? The whole point of CSS is that you (generally) change an element’s attributes relative to its parents’. Why should this ever be a problem?

The whole debate is slightly reminiscent of the “don’t use layout tables” debates. The arguments might seem dogmatic to nonprofessionals² but there’s simply no reason not to follow them anyway. This isn’t to say that it’s wrong to ask for arguments! But there are soo many pointless violations of this rule.

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²⁾ For the record, I’m not a web design professional. Take my technical opinions here with just a grain of salt. But the argument is really independent of the technology used.