That Netscape screenshot only shows users have always been able to specify their own font preferences for three generic font families (serif, sans-serif, mono), along with a respective font-size. I’m not objecting to that: in fact, it’s a Good Thing that users are able to take control.
But taking control also means dealing with inconsistencies myself. If I were so bold as to set Impact as my default serif font, then I would also set a considerably smaller font-size to make up for the huge x-height. The thing is: if it would bother me, I, as an end-user, could do so, thanks to the browser’s interface exposing to me the needed controls.
It’s a whole different thing when browsers would start changing default behavior based on ‘common’ properties in ‘most’ fonts, without inspecting the real features of the actual fonts they render. Different, because if it would bother me, as a web developer, I couldn’t do anything about it, because the browser, while deviating from standard defaults, would not offer me the required controls, i.e. would render my CSS rules differently based on opinionated variables I cannot know.
But taking control also means dealing with inconsistencies myself. If I were so bold as to set Impact as my default serif font, then I would also set a considerably smaller font-size to make up for the huge x-height. The thing is: if it would bother me, I, as an end-user, could do so, thanks to the browser’s interface exposing to me the needed controls.
It’s a whole different thing when browsers would start changing default behavior based on ‘common’ properties in ‘most’ fonts, without inspecting the real features of the actual fonts they render. Different, because if it would bother me, as a web developer, I couldn’t do anything about it, because the browser, while deviating from standard defaults, would not offer me the required controls, i.e. would render my CSS rules differently based on opinionated variables I cannot know.