XHtml/Html: How does the browser decide on size for tags <h1> through to <h6>?

November 5th, 2009 | by admin |

Xhtml/Html, how does the browser decide on size for tags <h1> through to <h6>

I had a look in tools -> internet options -> general -> fonts but couldnt see anything.

Even though this can be changed in CSS im curious to where Internet explorer and firefox gets the sizes defaults from.

Thanks

These are just hard coded into the software and come from way back in the first days of markup, even before the internet really when word processors couldn’t display anything over the bog standard text, so needed something to differentiate headings from body text. h1 – h3 are larger than p and 4 – 6 go from the same to smaller.

So it’s really an arbitrary choice – which DOES change from browser to browser.

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Tags: Arbitrary Choice, css, Firefox, Fonts, H1, H3, H6, Headings, Html Browser, Internet Explorer, Internet Options, Lt, Markup, Tools, Word Processors

2 Responses to “XHtml/Html: How does the browser decide on size for tags <h1> through to <h6>?”

  1. By hellotman16 on Nov 5, 2009

    I’m pretty certain that it is relative function of the default font. For example +1, +2, +3 sizes would be <h6>, <h5>, <h4> and so on…

    It’s pretty easy to test: just make a little html page and put some text in <h1> through <h6>. Then put the same text in a div and adjust it until it looks the same.

    Edit: I just realized there is an even easier way. Download the Firebug extension for firefox. You can make CSS changes on any open HTML document and see the entire CSS tree including inheritance. Pretty great tool if you’ve never used it before.
    References :

  2. By circusmort on Nov 5, 2009

    These are just hard coded into the software and come from way back in the first days of markup, even before the internet really when word processors couldn’t display anything over the bog standard text, so needed something to differentiate headings from body text. h1 – h3 are larger than p and 4 – 6 go from the same to smaller.

    So it’s really an arbitrary choice – which DOES change from browser to browser.
    References :

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