Question

CSS Font widths

Asked by: Treder

Hi,

I'm trying to generate a generic stylesheet for my projects.  I would very much appreciate it if someone could let me know the best practise for defining fonts in a stylesheet.

Surely a <p>, <h1> etc tag should be display:block by default, yet somewhere down the line of my layouts I'm having to stipulate it AND the exact width of the div it is contained within, or else I'm getting display:inline behaviour - the same thing happens with <li>'s  - I'm confused about what the definitive answer (if that's ever possible with so many interpretations).

So for example, what would be the correct css for the following:

* {
      margin:0em;
      padding:0em;
}
body {
      margin:0 0 0 0;
      padding:0;
      background: #000;
      font-weight: normal;
      font-size: 9pt;
      font-family: arial, futura, helvetica ;
}

h1,h2,h3
{
      font-weight: normal;
}

p
{
      font-weight: normal;
      font-size: 1.05em;
      line-height: 1.2em;
      padding-top: 0.77em;
      padding-bottom: 0;
      margin-bottom: 0;
}

#right-content {
      float:left;
      padding: 15px 0 0 0;
      width:600px;
}
#right-content p {
      float:left;
      width:595px; /* Needed ??  or should it be width:100% ? */
      padding:0 0 12px 5px;
}

<div id ="right-content">
   <p>What's right, </p>
   <p>what's wrong - on a line below, dammit!</p>
</div>

As I posted the code above from my stylesheet, I'm wondering whether * {      margin:0em;padding:0em; } is what's causing me problems.

Comments very much appreciated
Tony

This question is in progress. Our experts are working on an answer right now.
Sign up for immediate access to the solution once it becomes available.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-09-29 at 08:25:53ID24770433
Tags

css

,

font

,

width

Topic

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Alignment of Divs <p> CSS in IE
    Hi Guys, Ive put together a HTML page that's made up with some divs. I'm having two problems I hope you can help me with. 1. Link DIV I have a DIV named: LogoLink how do i increase the height of this DIV upwards more within the red section rather than being pushed down i...
  2. IE6 CSS bug - DIVs seem to have margins or padding
    The CSS below does not render properly in IE6. The topBanner and bottom DIVs are supposed to be 1000 px wide, but they are displaying as 1004 px in IE6. I have tried setting the left and right margins and padding to 0 px, but it does not help. Any suggestions? The URL is adel...
  3. Problems with margins
    Here is the web address http://www.bowserlaw.com/index2.asp It's pretty simple, but not for me. All i want to do is to have the blue box be at the bottom of the black masthead container instead of the top of it. The image is a background image for the black colored masthead...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: exalkoniumPosted on 2009-09-29 at 08:31:15ID: 25450163

The * is pretty much a wildcard for all page elements, so you effectively eliminated the padding and margins for all page elements until you define new ones through CSS.

Now then, your float declaration can only be used on positioned elements (e.g. position:relative;). I would change your P tags to divs, position them relatively, and then you can use the floats. You then don't have to make size declarations:

#right-content div {
      float:left;
      padding:0 0 12px 5px;
} 
<div id ="right-content">
   <div>What's right, </div>
   <div>what's wrong - on a line below, dammit!</div>
</div>

                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: exalkoniumPosted on 2009-09-29 at 08:31:48ID: 25450167

Sorry, let me fix that:

#right-content div {
      float:left;
      position:relative;
      padding:0 0 12px 5px;
} 
<div id ="right-content">
   <div>What's right, </div>
   <div>what's wrong - on a line below, dammit!</div>
</div>
                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: HawkTitanPosted on 2009-09-29 at 08:37:35ID: 25450232

When using copy/paste and putting your code into a new html doc I don't see an issue, aside from needing <style> </style> statements.

 

by: exalkoniumPosted on 2009-09-29 at 08:43:13ID: 25450287

The problem he is having is that the 2 lines of paragraph text should be side by side, not one line below the other. If he switches his CSS like I put it, it should work.

 

by: TrederPosted on 2009-09-29 at 11:00:39ID: 25451551

HI,

Thanks for your comments.  The problem is that the <p> tags sometimes go side by side (display:inline) when they should be one on top of each other (display:block;).  <p> tags are display:block by default arent they?  Is it really necessary to state the width of the div in the <p> tag?  I'm confusing myself with what I do and don't understand.  Perhaps the best thing is how a base stylesheet should be constructed when it comes to these issues.

I'm not a fan of using what I consider un-gainly tags.  I'd prefer:

<div id="container">
  <h2>Title text</h2>
  <p>Para text</p>
</div>

Make sense?

 

by: TrederPosted on 2009-09-29 at 11:03:13ID: 25451579

Sorry - just re-read the comments - I am of course taking excerpts from a valid html file and an included css file and posting them here.

 

by: TrederPosted on 2009-11-14 at 02:04:01ID: 25820018

The main question here is what is the recommended way to structure fonts within a typical layout, in particular, looking at widths.  Should all widths be stated within the div container and never within the font (p,h1,h2 etc) tags?  

Can anyone point me to a css 'template' example which contains all 'best practise' techniques for layouts?

Many thanks,
Tony

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...