Classic Responsive text too small says Google

[pixelpadre]

It is set right in the begginging of the stylesheet.css line 12

body {margin:0;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:72.5%;line-height:140%;}

Bootstrap sets it to 1em which basically sets base font-size to the browser default. So just change the font-size to what you need it to be. All of the fonts on the site that use em/rem will scale off of that base size, so start there.

@dbltoe I wasn't suggesting for it to be set to 62.5% I was explaining why it was probably set to what it was.

Yeh I know about line 12 but what you posted earlier about line 12 adjusted the the base font size. where is the base font size that gets multiplied by 72.5. Changing 72.5 has adverse effects on other places like the search box for example, and others.

[swguy]

netzencommerce.com is the stock Zen Cart site we use to demo the color changes for responsive_classic (it's the only mod) and it tests in the green for mobile readability with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

You can get a green on the mobile friendly test and still get this email from Google saying the text is too small.

NOT THAT I'M BITTER!

[barco57]

the 72.5% is being multiplied against the browser default which for most browsers is 16px

[pixelpadre]

Yes that is true. It will say it is mobile friendly. But thats just to say that you have a responsive website. It doesnt say that you page loads to slow, or that your files arent minified etc etc. Further scrutiny by the google algorithm will raise red flags and push you down in rankings.

At the end of the day, google is correct. The text is tiny on androids. I cant believe that as long as responsive has been around, that no one has noticed the tiny text.

[dbltoe]

At the end of the day, google is correct. The text is tiny on androids. I cant believe that as long as responsive has been around, that no one has noticed the tiny text.

I have done everything short of buying an android phone to look at this. You have not given us a site to test, an android model to test, or even told us if you are clearing the cache between checks on your phone. Using https://mobilemoxie.com/tools/mobile-page-test/ and comparing netzencommerce on an iPhone 8 versus a Samsung Galaxy 8 shows the text to be exactly the same size AND shows the increase I made with the stylesheet change from the original 72.5% to 75%.

Without further info, ..........

[pixelpadre]

same results on firefox and chrome on LG android. Simply moving the number to 92.5 is not a fix. It will break other things.

[barco57]

sigh...
Yes of course everything will scale up and somethings will be "broken" forcing you to have to go through the stylesheet and fix the font-size on those items, or leave the body font-size as it was and go find the specific items you need scaled up and adjust them in the stylesheet. Now if you are setting specific font-sizes in your content, such as the define pages editor then its your fault as setting specific pixel sizes will override the scaling so no matter what you set the body font-size to it will display at the pixel size you set it to in the define pages editor.

[pixelpadre]

Out of the box text on android violates googles requirements to be a usable website. No sense arguing with google. The question now is do we all tell google to take a hike or do we do something to correct the situation. Putting the seal of approval on classic responsive, as it is now, is not helping anyone who is counting on it to make viewers happy. Its not about keeping google happy. I cannot read the text without a magnifying glass.

[barco57]

Who put "the seal of approval on classic responsive"in this thread? I don't use resposive classic myself

[barco57]

is initialpleading (from the screenshot) the problem child? I ran a lighthouse audit against it and it passed: Document uses legible font sizes - 100% legible text
The requirement to pass that part of the audit is font-size > or = 12px. Being that lighthouse is a Google property and is in the Chrome inspector I tend to believe it passed. Now if analytics is failing it for to small a font-size that just tells me that google can not make up their minds about it and one department has one set of criteria and the other department is using a different set of criteria...typical Google. It also explains to me why the base font-size was set to 72.5 from 62.5 to meet the standard of a 12px base and it was easier to scale it up with changing that rule rather than go through the multiple stylesheets and fix each one manually.