+ Got rid of all instances of <small>. Under IE5, GUI-mode pydoc has

  always been close to useless, because the <small>-ified docstrings
  were too small to read, even after cranking up my default font size
  just for pydoc.  Now it reads fine under my defaults (as does most
  of the web <0.5 wink>).  If it's thought important to play tricks
  with font size, tough, then someone should rework pydoc to use style
  sheets, and (more) predictable percentage-of-default size controls.

+ Tried to ensure that all <dt> and <dd> tags are closed.  I've read (but
  don't know) that some browsers get confused if they're not, and esp.
  when style sheets are in use too.

Lib/pydoc.py

@@ -348,8 +348,8 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
         return '''
 <table width="100%%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 border=0>
 <tr bgcolor="%s">
-<td valign=bottom><small>&nbsp;<br></small
-><font color="%s" face="helvetica, arial">&nbsp;<br>%s</font></td
+<td valign=bottom>&nbsp;<br>
+<font color="%s" face="helvetica, arial">&nbsp;<br>%s</font></td
 ><td align=right valign=bottom
 ><font color="%s" face="helvetica, arial">%s</font></td></tr></table>
     ''' % (bgcol, fgcol, title, fgcol, extras or '&nbsp;')
@@ -362,8 +362,8 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
         result = '''
 <p><table width="100%%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 border=0>
 <tr bgcolor="%s">
-<td colspan=3 valign=bottom><small><small>&nbsp;<br></small></small
-><font color="%s" face="helvetica, arial">%s</font></td></tr>
+<td colspan=3 valign=bottom>&nbsp;<br>
+<font color="%s" face="helvetica, arial">%s</font></td></tr>
     ''' % (bgcol, fgcol, title)
         if prelude:
             result = result + '''
@@ -399,7 +399,6 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
             result = result + '</td>'
         return '<table width="100%%"><tr>%s</tr></table>' % result
 
-    def small(self, text): return '<small>%s</small>' % text
     def grey(self, text): return '<font color="#909090">%s</font>' % text
 
     def namelink(self, name, *dicts):
@@ -478,14 +477,14 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
         for entry in tree:
             if type(entry) is type(()):
                 c, bases = entry
-                result = result + '<dt><font face="helvetica, arial"><small>'
+                result = result + '<dt><font face="helvetica, arial">'
                 result = result + self.classlink(c, modname)
                 if bases and bases != (parent,):
                     parents = []
                     for base in bases:
                         parents.append(self.classlink(base, modname))
                     result = result + '(' + join(parents, ', ') + ')'
-                result = result + '\n</small></font></dt>'
+                result = result + '\n</font></dt>'
             elif type(entry) is type([]):
                 result = result + '<dd>\n%s</dd>\n' % self.formattree(
                     entry, modname, c)
@@ -552,7 +551,7 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
 
         doc = self.markup(getdoc(object), self.preformat, fdict, cdict)
         doc = doc and '<tt>%s</tt>' % doc
-        result = result + '<p>%s</p>\n' % self.small(doc)
+        result = result + '<p>%s</p>\n' % doc
 
         if hasattr(object, '__path__'):
             modpkgs = []
@@ -646,7 +645,7 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
                     if value.__doc__ is not None:
                         doc = self.markup(value.__doc__, self.preformat,
                                           funcs, classes, mdict)
-                        push('<dd><small><tt>%s</tt></small></dd>\n' % doc)
+                        push('<dd><tt>%s</tt></dd>\n' % doc)
                     for attr, tag in [("fset", " setter"),
                                       ("fget", " getter"),
                                       ("fdel", " deleter")]:
@@ -671,7 +670,7 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
                     else:
                         doc = self.markup(getdoc(value), self.preformat,
                                           funcs, classes, mdict)
-                        doc = '<dd>' + self.small('<tt>%s</tt>' % doc)
+                        doc = '<dd><tt>%s</tt>' % doc
                         push('<dl><dt>%s%s</dl>\n' % (base, doc))
                     push('\n')
             return attrs
@@ -737,15 +736,13 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
             for base in bases:
                 parents.append(self.classlink(base, object.__module__))
             title = title + '(%s)' % join(parents, ', ')
-        doc = self.markup(
-            getdoc(object), self.preformat, funcs, classes, mdict)
-        doc = self.small(doc and '<tt>%s<br>&nbsp;</tt>' % doc or
-                                 self.small('&nbsp;'))
+        doc = self.markup(getdoc(object), self.preformat, funcs, classes, mdict)
+        doc = doc and '<tt>%s<br>&nbsp;</tt>' % doc or '&nbsp;'
         return self.section(title, '#000000', '#ffc8d8', contents, 5, doc)
 
     def formatvalue(self, object):
         """Format an argument default value as text."""
-        return self.small(self.grey('=' + self.repr(object)))
+        return self.grey('=' + self.repr(object))
 
     def docroutine(self, object, name=None, mod=None,
                    funcs={}, classes={}, methods={}, cl=None):
@@ -791,16 +788,16 @@ TT { font-family: lucidatypewriter, lucida console, courier }
         else:
             argspec = '(...)'
 
-        decl = title + argspec + (note and self.small(self.grey(
-            '<font face="helvetica, arial">%s</font>' % note)))
+        decl = title + argspec + (note and self.grey(
+               '<font face="helvetica, arial">%s</font>' % note))
 
         if skipdocs:
-            return '<dl><dt>%s</dl>\n' % decl
+            return '<dl><dt>%s</dt></dl>\n' % decl
         else:
             doc = self.markup(
                 getdoc(object), self.preformat, funcs, classes, methods)
-            doc = doc and '<dd>' + self.small('<tt>%s</tt>' % doc)
-            return '<dl><dt>%s%s</dl>\n' % (decl, doc)
+            doc = doc and '<dd><tt>%s</tt></dd>' % doc
+            return '<dl><dt>%s</dt>%s</dl>\n' % (decl, doc)
 
     def docother(self, object, name=None, mod=None):
         """Produce HTML documentation for a data object."""
@@ -1801,8 +1798,8 @@ def serve(port, callback=None, completer=None):
                 for dir in pathdirs():
                     indices.append(html.index(dir, seen))
                 contents = heading + join(indices) + '''<p align=right>
-<small><small><font color="#909090" face="helvetica, arial"><strong>
-pydoc</strong> by Ka-Ping Yee &lt;ping@lfw.org&gt;</font></small></small>'''
+<font color="#909090" face="helvetica, arial"><strong>
+pydoc</strong> by Ka-Ping Yee &lt;ping@lfw.org&gt;</font>'''
                 self.send_document('Index of Modules', contents)
 
         def log_message(self, *args): pass