PX to EM conversion made simple

WHAT IS THE TEXT SIZING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PX, EM, %, PT?

Pixels and points are static measurements. 1 pixel is always 1 pixel. 1 point is always 1 point. Points are a little different because they change size based on DPI. On paper, with its higher DPI, 12 point text is actually more pixels that 12 point text on a computer monitor, which has a lower DPI than paper.

Percent and EMs on the other hand are relative measurements. The size of EM or percent-based text depends on its parent. If body text is sized at 12 pixels, then text set at 120% or 1.2 EM inside the body will be 1.2 * 12, or 14.4 pixels.

WHY SIZE YOUR TEXT WITH EMS IN CSS?

Style sheets that use EMs are easier to maintain for the designer and more accessible to end-users.

Style sheets become easier to maintain because all text set in EMs scale to the body font-size. Only one element’s font-size needs to change instead of individually changing the font-size of each element.

Accessibility is increased for end-users because text is scaled based on their preferences rather than set statically in pixels. Additionally, end-users can use hot keys to scale the text in all browsers. Many people have difficulty reading small text on a computer screen.