“px” Is Dead, Long Live “px”

Published on Feb 23, 2010 (updated Feb 5, 2024), filed under development (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

This and many other posts are also available as a pretty, well-behaved ebook: On Web Development.

It’s over. There is no ban on px anymore.

The only reason why we as web developers had to adjust coding practices were user agents that failed to meet user agent accessibility guidelines. Most notably Internet Explorer 6 which, “dumb as a sack of hammers” (a tribute to Joe), does not allow text to be resized when specified in px. Every modern browser supports text resizing or page zooming.

So it’s over. Internet Explorer 6 is still popular in a few countries, like China and South Korea, but let’s just cut it out.

We can cut it out and use px more freely because of two reasons: Fewer and fewer people use IE 6. And there simply are no data—that is, please correct and show me if you know any—indicating how many IE 6 users actually use, better: rely on, text resizing. Holding this lack of data for px, not against, maybe “it” was never really on.

Yet as always, let’s be smart. For instance, when our target audience is known to have special needs. When we’re working with certain devices on which real estate is made use of more effectively with em or %. Or when we simply prefer other units to work with.

I planned this post back in 2007 when I decided to include one tiny note in the second edition of Webdesign mit CSS. I wanted this post to sound fancy and bold. Perhaps.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)