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> If users don't know how to set presentation on their browsers,
> shouldn't I set the fonts for them, using stylesheets of course? If
> they're smart enough to figure out how to control the display
> themselves, they'll turn off my page's settings in favor of their own,
> if they want to. Otherwise, I'm thinking I am justified in setting my
> choices for type, size, leading, and so forth.
>
I think that, in general, users have settings in their browsers that
are okay with them. Even if those settings are just the default settings and
they don't know how to change their settings, they are satisfied with their
settings. If they had some weird settings that they didn't like, they would
have figured out how to change them. So, they don't really need their
settings set. They have okay settings.
Now, if you set things for them, many of them will not notice or
care and will be perfectly satisfied with your settings as well. But some of
them did deliberately set things and will be very annoyed at having to take
extra steps to override your settings. Therefore, it seems to me that you
risk alienating some users when you really don't need to. It seems it would
be better to design your page so that it is readable at any reasonable
settings.
Janet
Janet Valade
Technical Writer
Systech Corporation, San Diego, CA mailto:janetv -at- systech -dot- com
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