Awesome, time to submit a ticket to WebKit to auto-adjust HN's default text size to 16px like everybody else instead of 12px. It made sense in 2007 when your resolution was 1024x768.
Yes and so it makes sense today because CSS pixels are resolution independent. If something worked on 1024x768 monitors in 2007 but is too small on your monitor today then the problem is with your settings not the website.
Anyway, you can set [default] zoom once and enjoy.
Unless you’re in a browser in which no one uses that per-site zoom feature cause it’s not implemented cause no one uses it. In this case, you can embrace the simplicity or use StyleBot.
I just switched the resolution to 1024x768, and now the same ~12px is "larger" and easier to read without needing to increase my browser zoom.
There's an obvious visual difference between the two.
Alternatively:
1px = (1/96)in
1pt = (1/72)in = (1/72)*(96/72)*(72/96)in = (96/72)*(1/96)in = (4/3)*1px = (4/3)px
9pt = 9*1pt = 9*(4/3)px = 12px