There are some major accessibility issues with using actual font size (font-size: 9pt;).
In terms of web accessibility, you never want to 'hard-code' the font size on a given page. The reason for this is that you eliminate the zoom/text size features of the browser. For example, if you have a visually impaired person coming to your site, and they set the browser's text size to "largest", the hard-coded font size (font-size: 9pt;) will not adjust accordingly. Given that, the page is not readable to the user.
Adjusting font size using relative/comparative means is a much better approach. For example, if you set the element's style to "font-size: 80%;", the font size will be 80% of the parent's font size. Using this means allows for the same results, but in a way that will work for more users.
Now, there are some things to remember. If you do not specify a specific point size, it will use the browsers default (12pt or <font size="2">). For many persons, this font it simply too big, but you can set your body/container element to use font-size: 75% (9pt) as its style. This will give the same 'look' as you want, but still allow users with the largest text size to increase their view of the font.
Chris:
There are some major accessibility issues with using actual font size (font-size: 9pt;).
In terms of web accessibility, you never want to 'hard-code' the font size on a given page. The reason for this is that you eliminate the zoom/text size features of the browser. For example, if you have a visually impaired person coming to your site, and they set the browser's text size to "largest", the hard-coded font size (font-size: 9pt;) will not adjust accordingly. Given that, the page is not readable to the user.
Adjusting font size using relative/comparative means is a much better approach. For example, if you set the element's style to "font-size: 80%;", the font size will be 80% of the parent's font size. Using this means allows for the same results, but in a way that will work for more users.
Now, there are some things to remember. If you do not specify a specific point size, it will use the browsers default (12pt or <font size="2">). For many persons, this font it simply too big, but you can set your body/container element to use font-size: 75% (9pt) as its style. This will give the same 'look' as you want, but still allow users with the largest text size to increase their view of the font.