  Q. about absolute/relative FONT SIZE and BASEFONT  From: Alan
J. Flavell <flavell@mail.cern.ch> Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 16:38:25
-0500 (EST) To: www-html@w3.org Message-ID:
<Pine.HPP.3.95a.981102221644.12529A-100000@hpplus01.cern.ch>
Recent discussion on usenet has reminded me that there's a
widespread belief about that "absolute" FONT SIZE values give
authors the ability to more closely specify the size of what the
reader sees.  When challenged, supporters of this belief
typically assert that readers are able to vary the BASEFONT and
thereby affect the size of "relative" FONT SIZEs.  They also ask
what the heck was the point of having "absolute"  and "relative"
sizes at all, if this is not so (a question to which, quite
honestly, I have no satisfactory answer).   I've tried hard to
get them to give some concrete demonstration of their assertion,
but without success: over and again the assertion is repeated in
various forms, but never a demonstration.  So I'm almost sure
that I'm right and they're wrong, but