Can you explain the difference between px, em and rem as they relate to font sizing?

24 February 23

CSS

Pixels (px)

Pixels (px) are a unit of measurement used in CSS to define the size of an element. Pixels are absolute units, meaning that they are not relative to any other unit of measurement. For example, if you set the font size of an element to 16px, it will always be 16px, regardless of the size of the parent element or the size of the browser window.

Ems (em)

Ems (em) are a unit of measurement used in CSS to define the size of an element. Unlike pixels, ems are relative units, meaning that they are relative to the size of the parent element. For example, if you set the font size of an element to 1em, the size of the font will be the same as the size of the parent element. If the parent element has a font size of 16px, then the font size of the element will be 16px.

Rems (rem)

Rems (rem) are a unit of measurement used in CSS to define the size of an element. Unlike pixels and ems, rems are relative to the root element (usually the <html> element). For example, if you set the font size of an element to 1rem, the size of the font will be the same as the size of the root element. If the root element has a font size of 16px, then the font size of the element will be 16px.

Frontend development