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Typography

A type scale for interfaces that shout

Seven steps, one ratio, and why the body size is 16px even in a 1995 costume.

Windows 95 shipped at 96 DPI with an 8pt UI font. Reproducing that number today produces text nobody can read on a phone, which is the difference between an homage and a re-enactment.

Steps, not sizes

--retro-font-size-xs through -3xl, all in rem, all derived from one body size. A component asks for a step, never a pixel value, so a site that raises the base size moves everything with it.

Where the costume stops

The chrome is authentic: square corners, bevels lit from the top-left, a grey chassis. The reading experience is not negotiable — 16px body text, a line height near 1.5, and a measure that stops around 72 characters.

About the author

Rita Delgado

Writes about interface archaeology and the parts of the web that refuse to die.