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08.06.2008
Demystifying the On-Screen Em
An update to an old post on converting ems to pixels, I found an old article, Sizing Fonts, that's helpful in demystifying why the conversion behind getting a precise measure isn't so straightforward.
The default font size for browsers has been standardized to the value of 16 pixels (px) ... What we hadn't bargained on (not the blind idealists among us anyway) was that users would be extremely familiar with the old default font size they had come to know and love. This was 12 points (pt); and remember earlier when we hinted about how unreliable that method of sizing is? On a Macintosh system, 12pt converts to about 12px. On a Windows browser it converts to more or less 16px. A noticeable difference.
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