Technical debate emerges over relative vs. pixel units and browser settings
5 Nov 1 11:17 AM · 11d ago · 4 comments · 1 source · development 5 of 5
Commenters clarified that if Tangled used relative units (like Lobsters does), browser accessibility settings for font size would be respected. The root issue is Tangled's fixed 16px base on the HTML element, which blocks relative units from scaling with user preferences. One commenter noted the contrast with older design practices: a 12px base font is now considered fundamentally indefensible.
“A base font size of 12px in this decade truly is beyond the pale. It doesn't so much *call into question* their competence as much as *utterly disprove* it.”
chrismorganDavid Bushell Web developer and accessibility criticTangled GitHub alternative code forge
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What people said 6 voices · verbatim
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The point is that if the website uses relative units (which Lobsters does, and Tangled doesn't), it follows your preferences. In Firefox you can decrease the font size in the accessibility settings to your liking and Lobsters will respect that.
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> Tangled is practically unusable for me at this size. It was small before but I could zoom in. The way the new front-end is designed and built doesn’t leave much room for personal remedy. I believe the old frontend was mostly plain HTML with HTMX for reactivity. Now it's Svelte and it feels universally worse: the DOM abruptly rebuilds itself…
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I, for one, am in favor of being able to see more text on screen. Many sites and blogs have way too large of a font size which means you cannot see the context for what you are reading. This makes it difficult to find the part of the text you actually want to read. Lobsters, for example, used to have a good font size but now I have to view it…
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Of course! I didn’t mean “just” that way — I meant font size is such a low bar for accessibility. It’s sad and annoying when designers ignore even blatantly obvious accessibility issues that don’t affect them personally. But you know everyone who breaks their ankle becomes a sudden fan of the ADA. :)
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It’s also impossible to use without JS now, one can’t even log in.
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The font size is correct on unstyled websites. Why should I make them too small just so lobsters is a reasonable size?
All 5 developments of Accessibility critic says Tangled's redesign fails basic… →
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