I agree completely with this article. As I've gotten older (now 43) I have had more and more trouble reading web sites. In fact, I've noticed lately that I don't even try on some sites that have "small" fonts, I just close the tab. There are some sites that I really like and I generally depend on my browser to help me out. Chrome has a good habit of remembering my page zoom on a particular site so I don't even notice the font problem on subsequent visits.
Another solution is a custom style sheet. Opera has had that capability forever, since about 2001. I use Opera for most browsing, with a custom style sheet to force all text to a certain font and style. This varies by device: Calibri 12pt is the most readable at work where I sit close to the screen on a smallish monitor, while Verdana 12pt works better on my home desktop and laptop screens. My stylesheet also forces text color to black-on-white, very useful for some forum sites that seem to like the scary gothic gray-on-dark look.
There won't be any magic bullet solution. Specifying text size in terms of pixels gives you tiny words on super high resolution iDevices or even modern laptop screens. Specifying size as an absolute via points or inches/cm doesn't work for users lacking the visual acuity to see that size. Specifying size relative to a user-settable device default only works for users savvy enough to find that setting. What we've got now is a mixmash of the above, where devices treat an absolutely-specified size as a baseline to scale from via zoom controls.
But hey, web font scaling is still twelve parsecs better than the original option of going out to buy the large print edition of whatever you want to read.
You can also define a "minimum font size" in your browser options. This trick really changed my life. Sadly, the rendering can turn ugly on websites with a poor and/or overly complex design (e.g.: facebook.com).
I used 18px minimum in Safari for a long time and I'm just 25. If a site breaks, you can just hit cmd+'+' to zoom it up, which will usually fix the layout.
I am now on Chrome which zooms uniformly and when HackerNews comments are just barely readable, the 'reply' links seem to be twice their size, when in Safari they were the same (minimum) size. Neither approach is pretty. :(
The worst is when zooming breaks the layout causing some of the text to be located outside the viewport. I can't think of a specific example right now but it has happened to me a few times and it's infuriating.
(There are workarounds but they shouldn't be necessary.)
I have contacts that correct my vision to just about 20/20. Maybe I just have higher than average DPI screens, but most sites (hn included especially) are simply too small for me to sit at a comfortable distance and read comfortably. I don't know where the rest of you eagles come from.
Agreed. Eyesight doesn't get better as you get older, it only gets worse. Why strain your eyes trying not to "look old"? Your eyes should be relaxed when you read.
+1, I'm 53 and will soon start using reading glasses. I find myself hitting Ctrl-+ a few times on a lot of Web pages. I run many 'commercial' sites through the readability bookmarklet to calm them down.
I'm a big fan of the Readability bookmarklet (readability.com/bookmarklets), which lets you set the page's font, size, colors, etc. As a bonus, it nukes most of the clutter such as ads and sidebars.
I'm 41 and have been experimenting with different contacts prescriptions for a couple of years to try to put this off, but I just got my first pair of reading glasses yesterday.
I'm with you; I had great vision until i hit my forties and now at 45, I'm squinting more and more. With the aging baby boomers I'm surprised there isn't an uprising of discontent over this issue.
