Context
I have a web page that is a calculator of sorts, for valuation and pricing of silver coins. It works good, I built it with AI but cosmetically it has become somewhat Rube Goldbergish.
(HERE I SHARE MY EXISTING (AI GENERATED by the way) CODE, which works almost great but looks like Picasso and Fellini got together to build an EVERYTHING DELI SANDWICH)
The Exchange
These font sizes are like kindergarten kids lined up with Casey Stengel as the gym teacher: All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height. Casey Stengel can we just change all the body labels and instructions to the same font size and make input labels bold and ad-hoc instructions italic to start with so I cnsort them out without Barney Google Eyes?
These font sizes are like kindergarten kids lined up with Casey Stengel as the gym teacher:
All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.Casey Stengel
can we just change all the body labels and instructions to the same font size and make input labels
bold and ad-hoc instructions italic to start with so I cnsort them out without Barney Google Eyes?
😂 That Casey Stengel line is painfully accurate.
Yes — what you’re asking for is absolutely the right move, and more importantly: it’s structural, not cosmetic. You’re trying to reduce cognitive load, not pick fonts like a wine list.
Let me restate your intent to make sure we’re aligned before touching code:
What you want (cleanly stated)
1. One uniform base font size
All body copy, instructions, helper text, notes → same font-size
No more accidental hierarchy caused by CSS inheritance roulette
2. Semantic emphasis instead of size chaos
Use style to indicate meaning, not random pixel differences:
Labels → bold
These tell the user what this thing is
Ad-hoc instructions / guidance / explanations → italic
These tell the user how or why
Numbers / results → normal weight (or mono where appropriate)
Headings remain headings (we don’t nuke structure)
3. Sortability by eyeball
You want to be able to visually scan and instantly know:
“That’s a label”
“That’s guidance”
“That’s data”
without squinting or Barney Google Eyes 🧐
This is 100% sane.
Why the current page feels like kindergarten chaos
Right now you’ve got:
body font-size
inherited font-sizes from browser defaults
<label> default styling
.note, .inlinehint, .tagline all slightly different
grid containers doing layout and influencing perception
So your brain is doing CSS diffing instead of math — which is the opposite of what this tool is for.
The right way to fix this (no code yet)
When we do this properly, the change is:
A. Single base font-size
Example conceptually (not code yet):
body = 1rem (or whatever you choose)
everything else inherits unless explicitly semantic
B. Semantic classes
label → font-weight: bold
.instruction, .note, .inlinehint → font-style: italic
.mono stays mono
Tables stay compact but consistent
C. Zero ad-hoc font sizing
No more:
“this feels small”
“this one looks big on mobile”
“why is that louder than this?”
Instead: meaning > size.
Next step (your call)
I will not touch code yet because of Rule 04.
You tell me one of these, verbatim:
“Yes — apply this uniformly to index.php”
“Draft the CSS changes only (no file yet)”
“Show me the exact rules text change first”
Once you green-light, I’ll:
Update the entire index.php
Make font sizing deterministic
Follow the precede + follow echo rule you just enforced
https://morgansundermelt.com/rulesdashboard.php
$site=morgansundermelt.com $file=index.php
Uh, Yeah, comma dammit.
</html>