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When I visit Stack Overflow and I've got the orange notification bar at the top of the page, there's a little "X" to close the bar. However, that X is not centered vertically within its box. This has bugged me for a long time and I figured it was a temporary thing. But it's never been fixed. Now I'm chalking it up to sloppiness.

As seen in Safari on Lion:

X

I've deleted Arial from my system (it's ugly).

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    I have no issue with the placement of the box itself, just the X inside the box.
    – jbrennan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 0:37
  • Hmm, I don't seem to have that problem in Chrome 18 / Windows 7.
    – Tim Stone
    Jan 19, 2012 at 0:38
  • @jbrennan, sorry, didn't see that at first. The problem won't be easy to reproduce, though... Jan 19, 2012 at 0:39
  • I don't see it out of line, either Jan 19, 2012 at 0:39
  • Fair enough. But I see it in Safari. So it's a bug.
    – jbrennan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 0:40
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    @jbrennan They are not saying it is not a bug; they are reporting they don't have the issue, which could help the developers to find what is wrong. (At least, knowing that some browsers render the page differently can help to make the page more similar though different browsers.)
    – apaderno
    Jan 19, 2012 at 1:00
  • @kiamlaluno Oh yeah, I'm aware :) I realize the importance of narrowing it down. Some of the earlier comments mistakenly thought I meant something else, which they were saying isn't a bug. But this one is, in Safari.
    – jbrennan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 1:18
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    No repro for me on Linux with the current repo version of Chromium. @FrédéricHamidi To try, find your JS console and input this: StackExchange.notify.show("You have gained the superpower!","1")
    – John
    Jan 19, 2012 at 2:46
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    A bug? Really?! It's a couple pixels out, and it's purely design - the button works as intended. Ugly? Maybe. Bug? Hardly. Jan 19, 2012 at 8:57
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    @Mr.Disappointment It's still a bug. It's crappy user experience. It's not that it's terrible but it detracts from SO. It makes it feel more amateurish. If my software isn't polished, I consider it needs fixing.
    – jbrennan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 23:48
  • @jbrennan Sometimes my car needs fixing, doesn't mean is has a 'bug'. Jan 19, 2012 at 23:54
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    Alternately, on could define "bug" as "aspect of the system as realized does not match the requirements as specified." If it was intended to be centered, and it's not, then it's a bug - there's a mismatch between reality and intention. If it's not in the requirements, then it might be a UI nitpick, but it isn't necessarily a bug. In this case we don't necessarily know if the X is supposed to be vertically centered or not in the stack exchange inc design specification, so we can't tell. There, now you have my definition, feel free to continue the argument after stating your definition.
    – Pollyanna
    Jan 21, 2012 at 15:28
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    @jbrennan you deleted a core system font, what do you expect? You've made yourself an uber-edge case. You wouldn't take the spoiler off a car because it's ugly then complain the car takes off.
    – Dunhamzzz
    Jan 23, 2012 at 9:25
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    Misplacing an X is not a bug. That was pretty funny though.
    – JonH
    Jul 27, 2012 at 16:52
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    Oh, Slidy....
    – Pops
    Jul 27, 2012 at 17:06

1 Answer 1

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On a stock install of Lion, I see a smaller font in Safari (though not perfectly aligned there either).

Any chance you're zoomed in, or have replaced some fonts? Or maybe your Apple's Arial has been replaced by a Microsoft version after installing Microsoft Office? (These fonts, incidentally, have caused much bigger issues.)

Actually, though the image is a bit a small to compare, it seems you're using Helvetica? That's odd, as that is not in the CSS, assuming it's Stack Overflow:

font-family: Arial,Liberation Sans,DejaVu Sans,sans-serif;


To see what font you're using: copy the text, paste into TextEdit, and then click in the text to see the font in the font dropdown. Mine says Arial, Bold, 17:

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  • Yeah, I've deleted Arial from my system (it's ugly). Must be what's causing this. But still... I'm inclined to say it should be fixed :).
    – jbrennan
    Jan 22, 2012 at 20:52
  • Really, for font-family, one should always put Helvetica, Arial, etc in such cases. Mac and iOS users get the better typography, and everyone else still gets what they would have got anyway: Arial.
    – jbrennan
    Jan 22, 2012 at 20:55
  • But as Helvetica needs a bit more space, it also needs some more effort than just changing the font-family, like you've just proven yourself? Still you might want to vote for Why is Helvetica only used sometimes, Arial otherwise? then.
    – Arjan
    Jan 22, 2012 at 21:13
  • isn't that the definition of fixing a bug? :) Fixing a bug involves some work!
    – jbrennan
    Jan 22, 2012 at 21:44
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    I've seen the smiley, but on a serious note: then I don't think it's a bug, but merely a duplicate of the feature request I mentioned above.
    – Arjan
    Jan 23, 2012 at 5:49

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