Don't mind the mess here but I need to run some maintenance on the font sizes.
smallest
small
normal
large
largest
Thanks. I recently updated the blogger software, per their request, and upon going about my regular habits of choosing the "small" font size, I see that my posts appear to print out to a larger size on the public blog. It's not a big deal, except the text reads exceptionally large, filling out the page more than it previously did. Yes, I'm aware that multiple factors influence this appearance, including my screen resolution, browser, and blog template, but it's slightly annoying when there is no real convention being used by the posting software, conventions like font size given in number vs. adjective. (Yes, I see the option to "Edit HTML", but that shouldn't be necessary for most print jobs- since despite all the luxuries in viewing photos and videos, we still depend on the words first and foremost. And if you disagree try spending more than 2 minutes on a non-porn Asian site.)
You might think that an innocuous presentation detail like font size is exactly that, innocuous. It probably is in this context, and the attention to detail on my part may be more of a minor compulsion than quality check. But it is this precise attention to detail and consistency which welcomes repeat business, whether you're a blogger, news reporter, or soda pop maker.
Just imagine if, while reading a book, the font size changed from page to page, word to word, or even letter to letter. You'd likely lose immediate interest in the story if this continued throughout. Which is unfortunate since, unless it was an intentional vice on the part of the author, the message was not being distorted, it was the quality of delivery that was influencing the reception. Luckily, there is little risk that font style or size will arbitrarily change in a published text. But the unless you actually inspect you can't be 100% sure, now can you?
One thing that can arbitrarily change is text and photo alignment. Notably in newspapers. And you can notice this when sometimes the temperature contour of the National weather map bleeds a little over into the New Moon forecast. Perhaps indicating that it might reach 60 degrees on the big ball of cheese. To prevent this, the papers utilize a mix of automated and manual overchecks, and evidence of this can be seen in the form of little colored squares usually tucked into an unread corner of the paper, like the editorials. Without these quality checks, reading the paper could require summoning your magic eyes (for those who can do it) or a non-Avatar set of 3-D glasses.
The last quality check I wanted to mention, mostly since I saw it a few months back and it stuck with me, was Coke cans. A tremendous amount of engineering and design goes into aluminum cans, in general, enough to make an engineer sprout another cowlick. But with Coke, perhaps like most solid brands, inspection demands 100% compliance. In particular every single can's color. Yes, the trademark (not using it as an adjective, it is actually trademarked) Coke shade of red, after it is applied to each can, is inspected to ensure it matches the correct standard. No, there isn't a line of elderly women around who hold up Behr paint cards comparing between "Ruby Paste" and "Lemming Blood". The inspection takes less than a second as of each of thousands of cans rapidly slide past an automatic camera. And just as quickly, the camera relays the information to a computer and back again, allowing an equally fast discharge of non-compliant cans from the assembly line. It may seem like overkill, as well, but the psychology of brand consistency is not.
And brand consistency extends far beyond traditional red-irons planted into a horse's hindquarters. However the concept shares similarities in the toughness and durability of the heavy, iron tool delivering the mark. Whether producing a cola, issuing a daily paper, or cranking out daily online article, consistency in the delivery is a value in itself.
