Sometimes there are questions you get from readers and you want to hide. Its not because you don't know the answer. It's more because you're part of the problem. The question is why can't I change the text size with Internet Explorer on some sites? Here's the scoop, it comes down to me and em.

The Font Size Problem

For many people using Internet Explorer, they are unable to change the font size for text on web pages. People often find the Microsoft instructions which provide the following steps for IE users.

1. From the View menu, select Text Size.

2. In the Text Size list, select your new size.

The instructions seem simple and clear, but they don't always work. This often leaves the reader confused and annoyed. Some readers will even try to look at the web pages HTML code to see if there is a clue. Others send me emails or query this site looking for a solution.

The Cause of the Problem

What is happening in many cases is there is coding that is setting an absolute pixel size for the text. This can happen in several ways. In our case, and many other the websites, the problem starts with our template design and CSS file.

A CSS file is a great convenience. It allows a website to have common definitions that drive the look and feel of each web page. This saves webmasters from adding extra code to every page. Moreover, if we wanted to make a global change, we edit the CSS file and not every web page. In our case, that would be hundreds of pages.

In our CSS file, we have the following line:

font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;

The font-size part is the root of the problem. That line tells the browser to set the font size to 12 pixels. The problem is Internet Explorer doesn't resize pixels. One way for me to solve this problem is to use ems rather than pixels. Em is another typography measurement, but it is relative and scales as the user elects to change their font size.

The Workarounds

The real solution is for me to fix the template and CSS file. This is something we've been working on for awhile, but were not done. In the interim, here is a solution that should work with Internet Explorer on this site and others.

To change the font size in IE,

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options

2. Click the General tab

3. Click the Accessibility button in the bottom right

4. In the Formatting section, check Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages

5. Click OK.

6. Click OK.

The above solution works, but you may find undesired results on some websites. Sometimes forcing a page to adjust its text size can make it look worse.

Another workaround is to use a different browser. Both Maxthon and Firefox allow text resizing regardless of the page design.

Although it would be convenient to blame this problem on Microsoft Internet Explorer, I'm the guilty party. When I set the site up, I used a template and CSS file that worked with the content management system. At the time, I didn't even know about this issue. I can tell you the next template we implement will have this change. Until then, you have my apologies.

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