The shared type scale
Six levels, five sizes. Archivo only.
1Display40 years ago, in 1986: Nora’s first telescope.64 on a desktop · 34 on a phoneWide, heaviest (width 125, weight 800). Home’s headline and a person’s name. Once a page at most.
2HeadlineBack on the porch40 · 28Wide, heaviest (125, 800). The title of every other page. One a page.
3HeadingMargaret’s life in pieces24 · 22A little wide, heavy (118, 780). Sections, decades, a lead tile’s title.
4TitleRose’s blue-ribbon cherry pie18 · 17Body’s size in firmer letters (108, 720). The name of one thing: a tile, a row, a question, a fold.
5BodyGeorge lugged the telescope up the ladder so Nora could see Saturn’s rings. She didn’t sleep until morning.18 · 17Plain (100, 400). Everything that is read: stories, answers, explanations, buttons.
6SmallYour parentYou, August 1958 · Brookhaven County Fair15 · 15Two voices at one size: a label (weight 650) and a quiet line (weight 400, Ink 2). Nothing smaller.
Today: 27 sizes on the signed-in pages
Aa80.6
Aa64
Aa51.8
Aa46
Aa44.6
Aa44
Aa34
Aa33.1
Aa30
Aa28
Aa26
Aa24
Aa23
Aa22.3
Aa22
Aa21
Aa20
Aa19
Aa18
Aa17
Aa16.5
Aa16
Aa15.5
Aa15
Aa14
Aa13
Aa12
Sixteen of them sit between 12 and 24 pixels, where the eye cannot rank them.
Proposed: 5 sizes on any one screen
Aa64 · 34
Aa40 · 28
Aa24 · 22
Aa18 · 17 Title
Aa18 · 17 Body
Aa15 label
Aa15 quiet
Each step is clearly bigger than the one below it, so size alone says what matters most.