would not want the comment font be the same as the post font [...] the small font-size that you want to display comments as
I had to increase the zoom level by about 20% (from 110% to 130%) after this change to make the comments readable[1]. This made post text too big to the point where I would normally adjust zoom level downward, but I can’t in this case[2], since the comments are on the same site as the posts. Also the lines in both posts and comments are now too long (with greater zoom).
I sit closer to the monitor than standard to avoid need for glasses[3], so long lines have higher angular distance. In practice modern sites usually have a sufficiently narrow column of text in the middle so this is almost never a problem. Before the update, LW line lengths were OK (at 110% zoom). At monitor/window width 1920px, substack’s 728pxseems fine (at default zoom), but LW’s 682px get balooned too wide with 130% zoom.
The point is not that accomodating sitting closer to the monitor is an important use case for a site’s designer, but that somehow the convergent design of most of the web manages to pass this test, so there might be more reasons for that.
Incidentally, the footnote font size is 12.21px, even smaller than the comment font size of 15.08px.
The comment font still doesn’t feel “sharp”, like there’s more anti-aliasing at work. It’s Gill Sans Nova Medium, size 15.08px (130% zoom applies on top of that). OpenSans Regular 18px on RoyalRoad (100% zoom; as an example sans font) doesn’t have this problem. LW post text is fine (at either zoom), Warnock Pro 18.2px. I’m in Firefox on Arch Linux, 1920x1080.
Here’s a zoomed-in screenshot from LW (from 130% zoom in Firefox):
Here’s a zoomed-in screenshot from RoyalRoad (from 100% zoom in Firefox):
I had to increase the zoom level by about 20% (from 110% to 130%) after this change to make the comments readable[1]. This made post text too big to the point where I would normally adjust zoom level downward, but I can’t in this case[2], since the comments are on the same site as the posts. Also the lines in both posts and comments are now too long (with greater zoom).
I sit closer to the monitor than standard to avoid need for glasses[3], so long lines have higher angular distance. In practice modern sites usually have a sufficiently narrow column of text in the middle so this is almost never a problem. Before the update, LW line lengths were OK (at 110% zoom). At monitor/window width 1920px, substack’s 728px seems fine (at default zoom), but LW’s 682px get balooned too wide with 130% zoom.
The point is not that accomodating sitting closer to the monitor is an important use case for a site’s designer, but that somehow the convergent design of most of the web manages to pass this test, so there might be more reasons for that.
Incidentally, the footnote font size is 12.21px, even smaller than the comment font size of 15.08px.
The comment font still doesn’t feel “sharp”, like there’s more anti-aliasing at work. It’s Gill Sans Nova Medium, size 15.08px (130% zoom applies on top of that). OpenSans Regular 18px on RoyalRoad (100% zoom; as an example sans font) doesn’t have this problem. LW post text is fine (at either zoom), Warnock Pro 18.2px. I’m in Firefox on Arch Linux, 1920x1080.
Here’s a zoomed-in screenshot from LW (from 130% zoom in Firefox):
Here’s a zoomed-in screenshot from RoyalRoad (from 100% zoom in Firefox):
I previously never felt compelled to figure out how to automate font change in some places of a site.
That is, with more myopia than I have I would wear glasses, and will less myopia I would put the monitor further back on the desk.