I'm also pretty sure 14 points font is a bit outdated at this point, 16 should probably be a minimum with current screens. It's not as if screens aren't wide enough to fit bigger text.

▲ ncts 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's good guidelines and all, but meanwhile you are posting it on a site with..

  .default { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color:#828282; }
  .admin   { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:8.5pt; color:#000000; }
  .title   { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color:#828282; overflow:hidden; }
  .subtext { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  7pt; color:#828282; }
  .yclinks { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  8pt; color:#828282; }
  .pagetop { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color:#222222; line-height:12px; }
  .comhead { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  8pt; color:#828282; }
  .comment { font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size:  9pt; }

	▲	nottorp 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Haha I keep forgetting that. Fortunately the browser remembers my zoom settings per page. I'm pretty sure the font is now at 16 or something via repeated Cmd +.
	▲	dsr_ 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Which is why Firefox has memorized that this site needs 170% zoom.
	▲	Semaphor 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		There’s a reason I have HN set to 200%

▲ skydhash 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

10 point at 96 dpi or with correctly applied scaling is very readable. But some toolkits like GTK have huge paddings for their widgets, so the text will be readable, but you’ll lose density.