Pixels(pix or px), Point(pt) or Percentage(%), which is best practice?

[dushyant.agarwal 0]

Hi,I would like to get opinion on which approach among Pixels(pix or px), Point(pt) or Percentage(%) is the best practice, while giving widths and heights in .html files or CSS.Thanks.

[chibineku 0]

They all have a place (as do ems), and it depends what you want to do. If you want your content to be a certain proportion of the page, you use %, whereas if you want a fixed width layout, you'd use px. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules - you just use whatever gives you the effect/accuracy you want.

[ShadowMage 94]

Depends on what effect you want to achieve. When you use pixels you set a static dimension. That width/height will never change regardless of browser window size or screen resolution. If you use percents or ems, you'll get a 'fluid' effect. Which means that the elements dimensions will change depending on the window size and screen resolution. The em measure is relative to font size, though I'm not 100% sure what the relationship is.

[thescientist 231]

It is representative of the the letter 'm' I believe, maybe since it is the widest letter? Anyway, its relative to the current font size and acts as a multiplier, of sorts.http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_units.asp

Edited May 18, 2010 by thescientist

[boen_robot 107]

... current size (in general), not just for fonts I think. 1em is the size that would be if you don't specify anything. 2em is two times that size. I mean just try to use ems on a box... it should work.

[Guest Evanion]

Best practice would be (in my meaning), to specify font:100% in body, and then use ems (at 100% 1em=16px) for text and minor layout stuff. and px/% for layout where applicable.There is no ONE best unit, if there was ... the rest would get deprecated. But as a rule of thumb, 'reset' the font size to 100% in body, and then use ems to set the final size. Ems are more compatible with support systems for people with bad eyesight and was introduced as a mix between px and % (or so I have heard).

[Ingolme 1,020]

Best practice would be (in my meaning), to specify font:100% in body, and then use ems (at 100% 1em=16px) for text and minor layout stuff. and px/% for layout where applicable.There is no ONE best unit, if there was ... the rest would get deprecated. But as a rule of thumb, 'reset' the font size to 100% in body, and then use ems to set the final size. Ems are more compatible with support systems for people with bad eyesight and was introduced as a mix between px and % (or so I have heard).

I reset the font to 62.5% in the body so that 1em is 10 pixels.

[music_lp90 1]

I reset the font to 62.5% in the body so that 1em is 10 pixels.

Thanks, Inglome. I think I will start doing that.

[Fmdpa 9]

Is "pix" valid?

[Synook 47]

No (however, some user agents may default to pixels if an unrecognised unit is specified).

[ballack999 0]

px 's useful for showing on monitor.pt 's useful for printing.px 's not influential in printing it's only for monitor