Comments on: I don't want to get reading glasses yet!

I don't want to get reading glasses yet!

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:48:57 -0800

Okay, yeah, doing stuff in smaller script can be funny and all. But pretty, pretty please, can people at least do it in small rather than SUPER-small, like this? (It makes me feel old, man!)

By: Autumn

Autumn — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:50:24 -0800

I read a lot from my phone and when I come across text that small it's oh goodness my eyes!

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:52:18 -0800

I think it's a difference between using the "small" tag and the "subscript" tag, but have never tried that theory.

By: pb

pb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:57:09 -0800

In this case it was three <small> tags in a row. That does make the text very hard to read. We don't want to stop people from being able to do that, but yeah, if they didn't it would make their jokes easier to read.

If you run Stylish you can embiggen all smalls with something like:

small {font-size:inherit;}

Or if you still want the text slightly smaller, but not as small:

small {font-size:96%;}

might do the trick.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:57:45 -0800

previously

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:58:27 -0800

OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:59:46 -0800

You can pry my <small> tags from my tiny dead hands.

By: jb

jb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:01:57 -0800

So sorry -- and feeling guilty, because I have poor eyesight and I can't read even two small tags on my ipod. I'm on a big monitor right now, and it didn't look small when I posted because I have the global settings for the monitor pumping up all text. If a moderator wants to go in and take out the extra tags, please do.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:01:59 -0800

We don't want to stop people from being able to do that, but yeah, if they didn't it would make their jokes easier to read.

Oh, absolutely; I'm not asking for a mod rule. I'm making more of a Sarah-McLachlan-holding-a-kitten-and-trying-to-make-you-feel-guilty appeal here.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:02:43 -0800

ctrl+
ctrl-
ctrl0

I use these all the time to see things better (and in fact, have MetaFilter constantly one ctrl+'d anyway), and I have perfect eyesight and am not even old. I just don't like to work hard when I'm leisure reading.

They're super easy, pretty standard across the browsers and operating systems used most often, and are a much better way to handle the smalltext issue than asking for folks to change their individual posting styles.

By: Blasdelb

Blasdelb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:03:27 -0800

You see, small text is totally different from _subscript but roughly the same size. Its the combo tags that get you get you get you get you get you get you get you

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:07:56 -0800

phunniemee: I use these all the time to see things better (and in fact, have MetaFilter constantly one ctrl+'d anyway), and I have perfect eyesight and am not even old. I just don't like to work hard when I'm leisure reading.

I also think most OS/Browser combos have a key combo that lets you use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out. It's pretty fun if you haven't tried it before. Here in Windows/Chrome land it is "Hold down Ctrl and scroll". You can then use Ctrl-0 to get back to "normal" if you want to.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:08:25 -0800

Most desktop browsers off you the option to set the minimum font size.

I haven't found a good iPad browser that offers something similar, if anyone has a suggestion let me know.

By: asnider

asnider — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:11:22 -0800

What this MeTa has done is teach me how to make my small text extra small. Really, this is only going to perpetuate the problem because I'm an ass and have occasionally wanted to write something in smaller than small text but didn't know how until today. I didn't realize that you could "stack" tags like that. I assumed, since it was the exact same tag, that it wouldn't have a carry-on effect. I mean, it's not like I can make bold text extra bold by using the < strong > tag multiple times (I just tried).

At least no one is doing what I've seen on a few other sites, where the text is made so small that it appears as little more than a series of illegible dots on the monitor. That is annoying.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:13:02 -0800

If you use Safari, there's an option in the Advanced tab of the Preferences dialog to "Never use font sizes smaller than..."

In Firefox, there's a button labeled "Advanced" next to the default font controls on the "Content" preferences tab which opens a pane with a "Minimum font size" control.

In Chrome, the setting page has a "Show advanced settings..." link at the bottom, and next to the "Font size" controls under "Web content" there's a "Customize fonts..." button which opens a pane with a "Minimum font size" slider.

By: yuwtze

yuwtze — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:14:58 -0800

There's also a Greasemonkey script that can help out.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:15:36 -0800

What this MeTa has done is teach me how to make my small text extra small.

Well, it's taught ME the key combinations to zoom in on my screen, so neener.

By: misha

misha — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:27:08 -0800

I try not to use the supersmall text feature often, because I AM old. Get off my lawn, you under-30 year-olds with 20/20 vision.

I know your pain because I used to be nearsighted and wore glasses and THEN contacts and THEN had LASIK surgery 6 years ago and NOW I have these weird "starburst" cataracts and I'm only in my 40s and they can't do LASIK again so I'll have to get my eye cut open the old-fashioned way--Okay I'm just not going to talk about my own vision any more now because it's so depressing.

BUT! Even though I can empathize, it is much, much easier to change things on your end as a user than to try to get everyone else to change instead.

What I do is set my profile preferences so small text appears in my favorite font at 9pt and even normal text is 14pt, so I don't get reminded that my eyes have unlocked achievement EPIC FAIL.

And because Steve Jobs made Apple just for me, if you are on a mac, all you have to do is push command +. That key combination is my best friend and I use it ALL THE TIME, everywhere.

By: jb

jb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:28:22 -0800

Oh, absolutely; I'm not asking for a mod rule. I'm making more of a Sarah-McLachlan-holding-a-kitten-and-trying-to-make-you-feel-guilty appeal here.

It worked - I promise only to use one small tag from now on :)

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:31:16 -0800

asnider: I mean, it's not like I can make bold text extra bold by using the strong tag multiple times (I just tried).

Sure you can. You just have to ██████ ████ █████████.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:31:25 -0800

ctrl+'d

The English language never saw computers coming.

By: misha

misha — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:33:03 -0800

Oh, absolutely; I'm not asking for a mod rule. I'm making more of a Sarah-McLachlan-holding-a-kitten-and-trying-to-make-you-feel-guilty appeal here.

I used to love that song, "Angel", but I can't stand it now. I have to turn the channel when that SM kitteh commercial comes on because itmakes me want to go adopt every cat at the animal shelter and my family says I am not allowed to go to there any more. :(

By: Zed

Zed — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:53:46 -0800

All of my posts and comments are accompanied by a high-frequency audio track that old people can't hear.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:08 -0800

All of my posts and comments are accompanied by a high-frequency audio track that old people can't hear.

Or see!

^{eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee}

By: zamboni

zamboni — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:43 -0800

I learned it from you, cortex! I learned it from watching you!

By: theichibun

theichibun — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:47 -0800

I don't know about other people, but when I go that small it's not something that anyone has to read to understand the rest of the post.

By: charred husk

charred husk — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:30:41 -0800

theichibun:
"I don't know about other people, but when I go that small it's not something that anyone has to read to understand the rest of the post."

The same goes for me. Super small script is basically for noise that you want to emphasize is NOT part of the greater conversation. I'll limit myself to a single small from here on out, though.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:43:52 -0800

Oh, god, now I feel guilty and stuff for making a thing of it.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:46:00 -0800

Give up the multi small tags?

NEVERRRRRRR

By: zamboni

zamboni — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:51:37 -0800

You're not the only one, EC.

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:58:12 -0800

small

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:09:44 -0800

i only get annoyed when it's an entire wall of text that has been made small. i generally flag that as an html error. even if nothing gets done, i at least feel better.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:11:02 -0800

oh yeah, i also flag blink text as an html error. in my mind it's something like "oh, how embarrassing, they accidentally hit their keyboard in the exact configuration before and after their comment to make it all blink. i'll go ahead and alert the mods to this obvious mistake."

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:14:02 -0800

I Englished computer langauge.
I English computer'd language.
I'd English computer language.
I English computer languaged.

VERBING.

nicwolff has it EmpressCallipygos; make sure you go adjust your browser minimum font sizes settings.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:14:54 -0800

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:15:33 -0800

UNBLINKENED ALL MY LIFE

By: Grither

Grither — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:20:14 -0800

EmpressCallipygos: "What this MeTa has done is teach me how to make my small text extra small.

Well, it's taught ME the key combinations to zoom in on my screen, so neener"

There's also "ctrl - scroll wheel up and down".

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:22:17 -0800

Oh, god, now I feel guilty and stuff for making a thing of it.

We'll meet you over in AskMefi.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:47:30 -0800

If you use Safari, there's ...
In Firefox, there's ...
In Chrome ...

And in Internet Explorer, there doesn't seem to be any support for nested <small> tags at all.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:50:54 -0800

IE is showing nested tags on my screen just fine. (More's the pity, apparently.)

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:52:03 -0800

VERBING.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:58:58 -0800

Does that mean my poor man's IMG posts work now?

By: Namlit

Namlit — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:08:43 -0800

Headline called out for sheer froufrou-ness.

(taking off reading glasses, frowning, shaking head)

By: carsonb

carsonb — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:15:16 -0800

VERBING.

Understanding what?

By: Azara

Azara — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:29:26 -0800

Small text used to be the one thing that really irritated me about Metafilter until I realised that I wasn't missing anything important if I just ignored everything in small text.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:46:03 -0800

Free donuts untit 5pm for everyone who can read this link!!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:50:23 -0800

I like the word embiggen.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:52:55 -0800

I like the word embiggen.

I try to use the word cromulent at least weekly. It is my duty as an American.

By: Namlit

Namlit — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:59:53 -0800

Im going to embloggen the word embiggen, thanks. Great for explaining how yeast works.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:10:29 -0800

I can't read this damn post. Speak up!

By: stebulus

stebulus — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:49:30 -0800

I unemboggened some of my ancestors lately and might have mixed up some of the pieces. Are they still safe to venerate?

By: His thoughts were red thoughts

His thoughts were red thoughts — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:18:34 -0800

I like the word embiggen.

I try to use the word cromulent at least weekly. It is my duty as an American.

Surely you mean 'Amercian'.

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:20:52 -0800

I came to this page expecting font hijinks. I was not disappointed.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:36:11 -0800

LET'S GET SMALL

By: J. Wilson

J. Wilson — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:47:58 -0800

I hate the small so much.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:00:36 -0800

However cute and witty people think they are for using small type, they're wrong.

By: drlith

drlith — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:03:13 -0800

"This looks more like a post that you should self-embloggen."

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:11:28 -0800

No, Afroblanco, YOU'RE wrong. About everything. All the time.

By: drlith

drlith — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:21:36 -0800

One tag makes it bolder
And one tag makes it small
And the tags that make it blinky
Don't do anything at all...

By: John Cohen

John Cohen — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:41:54 -0800

No, Afroblanco, YOU'RE wrong. About everything. All the time.

Does that mean he was wrong when he said he's "Wrong for Metafilter, wrong for America"? Paradox!

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:27:38 -0800

Actually, it's been updated for 2012.

Afroblanco : Wrong for Metafilter, wrong for America, wrong for YOU.

By: soundguy99

soundguy99 — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:29:53 -0800

Oh, god, now I feel guilty and stuff for making a thing of it.

No, no, EC, it's all good, I was right with ya.

So thanks to phunniemee, Rock Steady and nicwolff for pointing out the different ways to deal with this.

Apparently it flat out never occurred to me that I could do something about it from my end.

I am so ashamed. Maybe I should stop trying to use these new-fangled computer thingies.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:24:31 -0800

I though I was supposed to ask my doctor if Afroblanco might be right for me.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:39:39 -0800

Don't send me no doctor, fillin' me up with all-a those pills!

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:55:31 -0800

I'm going to do a very small FPP about microfilm.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

By: a humble nudibranch

a humble nudibranch — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:37:15 -0800

but if I make it small enough I don't have to see it or admit that I did it

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:43:40 -0800

MetaTalk: it flat out never occurred to me that I could do something about it from my end

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:33:55 -0800

Em-biggen biggen biggen font size please
Sometimes your words just migrainize me
But I still love your flashy phrase
Guess that's why they banned, and you're so faved

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 06:39:58 -0800

So Tired of Squinting: A Doggerel Plea Against Teeny Tiny Text

I'm not saying we need a new rule
But it's just that I feel like a fool
To reach for my glasses
When all you wise-asses
Write something that might be a jewel.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 07:03:54 -0800

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
it's a world of hopes and a world of fears
theres so much that we share
that it's time we're aware
it's a small world after all

it's a small world after all
it's a small world after all
it's a small world after all
it's a small, small world
it's a small, small world
it's a small, small world
it's a small, small world

By: Namlit

Namlit — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 08:38:51 -0800

there once was a poster in meta
who read not a single post's letter
they all were to small
'hey guys would you all
embiggen your writ - ah, that's better'

By: mule98J

mule98J — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:12:18 -0800

um...what?

Jeez.

By: clearly

clearly — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:16:25 -0800

First they came for the <marquee> tag

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:31:07 -0800

When someone sticks a big wad of supersmall text in a comment, I take it as their signal that they don't really want you to understand their comment, like muttering under their breath. No prob dude, moving right along.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:36:36 -0800

But then, if you move along, how will you know the commenter is not talking about Halloween Jack? I mean, you'd probably want to know if someone was talking about you, right? Wouldn't you?