Web typography - in a quandry
It is considered somewhat of a typographic rule that “Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.” What I am musing over is appropriate behaviour for web applications with "liquid layouts" and columns which can contain multiple lines of text. Essentially the choice boils down to prescribing a value (or range) for the column to fit to, or allowing the text to fill the remaining view port space available, given sensible element spacing. Perhaps it is better to create a simple pros/cons list and attempt to weigh up the balance in favour of one approach or another. Pros The end user is completely in control, they can adjust the view port to fit the text to the level of their choosing, a value that they are happy...