Re: [boost] Re: [Poll] New look-n-feel for Boost documentation

From: Rob Stewart (stewart_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-09-30 15:31:40

From: "Eric Niebler" <eric_at_[hidden]>
> Rob Stewart wrote:
> > 
> > 1. My browser's "always underline links" setting is not being
> >    respected. <snip>
> > 
> > 2. My browser's link colors are not being honored. <snip>
> 
> These specific design issues can be revisited, but the larger question 
> is of a style-sheet overriding browser defaults. Are you against any 
> website creating a distinct look-n-feel by customizing settings such as 
> these?

I set those options for a reason.  I don't like it when different
web sites usurp my settings and decide what links should look
like.  Each site has its own ideas about how they should look, so
it's hard to know what is and isn't a link at any given site.

> > 3. Sans serif text is harder to read.  You should use a font with
> >    serifs for the body text and sans serif fonts for headings.
> 
> This issue was discussed on the boost-docs list. I put up a side-by-side 
> comparison of serif and sans-serif documentation, and without exception, 
> everyone there found sans-serif to be both more attractive *and* easier 
> to read than serif, even those who initially expressed doubt. If you 
> feel strongly about this point, I suggest you re-open the discussion on 
> boost-docs. Many people you would need to convice loiter there.

Perhaps it has to do with the serif and sans-serif fonts
selected.  I overrode the CSS settings to use my default settings
which means New Century Schoolbook as the serif face (and
Helvetica as the sans-serif face).  The serif text was far more
readable.  What serif face did you specify, if any, in your test?

I also realize that it may not be possible to select a good,
portable, reasonably short set of serif faces to get good cross
platform results (not to mention that I don't think you can
specify a list of fonts, with faces and sizes, to try until one
is found on a given platform).  That may mean specifying nothing
more than serif and hoping that the user has defined a good
default.

-- 
Rob Stewart                           stewart_at_[hidden]
Software Engineer                     http://www.sig.com
Susquehanna International Group, LLP  using std::disclaimer;