Amazon.com Widgets Working with em-based widths can be baffling | t+1: Matt Wilson's blog

Working with em-based widths can be baffling

March 27, 2008 at 11:49 am · Filed under CSS, web

These four paragraphs have the same number of characters, but because the letter M is fat and the letter I is skinny, different amounts of characters appear in each line:

M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

This is the exact same text, but now I’m using a monospace font:

M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I