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Thread: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text

Number of posts in this thread: 13 (In chronological order)

From: Leo Smith
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 12:30PM
Subject: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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Hi Folks,

A couple of months ago, I remember (or am convinced that I do) reading a
provisional WCAG 2.0 Level 3 Success Criteria that talked about providing a
way to enlarge text via a control on the Web page itself, in addition to
browser tools for accomplishing the same thing (presumably because many
folks do not realize they can use browser options to resize text, especially
when they are not presented in the browser chrome).

However, I now cannot seem to find any mention of this. Did I dream the
whole thing, or was there something along these lines in a previous draft
version of WCAG 2.0

Thanks so much!

Leo.

------------------------------
Leo Smith
www.leosweb.com
usability - accessibility - maintainability
209 - 939 - 3933

From: reply-to:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:references;
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 3:20PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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Leo,

You should use relative font sizes for screen media. As explorer
cannot resize fixed pt or px font sizes.

Owen briggs did a lot of reesearch on optimum sizes:

http://www.thenoodleincident.com/tutorials/typography/

ben

From: estellevw
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 3:36PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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I had a similar question: is the type of + | - that can be found on pages such as: http://www.acmhs.org/what.htm adding to accessibility, detracting from it, or has positive and negative features relevant to accessibility that the effect is undetermined?

For those not wanting to visit the page: the "+" enlargens the content on the page, the "-" decreases the relative font size and "|" sets it back to the default.

Thanks.

-Estelle

>

From: reply-to:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:references;
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 4:03PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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sorry i missed the point of your question.

Doesnt hurt to include such an option, or at least explain to users
how to change font sizes in a accessibilty link. But making it a
priority seems a bit harsh.

From: Chris Price
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 4:32PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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On 21/2/05 11:03 pm, "morrison.ben" wrote:

> Doesnt hurt to include such an option, or at least explain to users
> how to change font sizes in a accessibilty link. But making it a
> priority seems a bit harsh.

I wouldn't consider putting a control in the web page to change the text
size. I want to put control in the hands of the user and that means
encouraging them to make use of their browser's built in controls not trying
to teach them how to use my website's idiosyncratic controls.

--
Chris Price

Choctaw

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.choctaw.co.uk

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Mon, Feb 21 2005 5:33PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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You also need to use percentages for column widths and ems
for heights to make sure box sizes will adjust to fit the
new text sizes.

Jon

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:20:10 +0000
>From: "morrison.ben"
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
>To: "WebAIM Discussion List"
>
>
>Leo,
>
>You should use relative font sizes for screen media. As
explorer
>cannot resize fixed pt or px font sizes.
>
>Owen briggs did a lot of reesearch on optimum sizes:
>
>http://www.thenoodleincident.com/tutorials/typography/
>
>ben
>
>----
>To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit
http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Director of IT Accessibility Services
Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES)
and
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Disability Resources and Education Services (DRES)

Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248

E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

From: KNOCK Alistair
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 2:54AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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> I wouldn't consider putting a control in the web page to
> change the text size. I want to put control in the hands of
> the user and that means encouraging them to make use of their
> browser's built in controls not trying to teach them how to
> use my website's idiosyncratic controls.

I agree Chris - unless you're already providing some alternate styling
feature, such as allowing font selection and colour schemes, which then
stores the settings in a database or cookie and so is persistent. That
can add to the user experience - particularly since we can teach users
how to size fonts within their browser, but it's an entirely different
matter teaching them to create custom stylesheets.

Otherwise this kind of control is just fluffy dice.

Alistair

From: Tim Beadle
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 3:00AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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"aknock" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote on 22/02/2005 09:53:59:
> Otherwise this kind of control is just fluffy dice.

Ahem:
http://alistapart.com/articles/lowvision/

Tim

Institute of Physics
Registered charity No. 293851
76 Portland Place, London, W1B 1NT, England

IOP Publishing Limited
Registered in England under Registration No 467514.
Registered Office: Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE England

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From: Tim Beadle
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 3:00AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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From: KNOCK Alistair
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 3:19AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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Not the same thing. Joe's main point is that multi-column layouts
aren't suitable for users of magnification software and so we should
allow our layouts to be mutatable into single columns which *the user*
can then zoom in and out of at will. Yes, they also need to be able to
enlarge the font size so that they don't have to fly around the page so
much, but the point is that it already exists in the user agent, is very
easy to use, and just requires each web developer to say somewhere on
their site, "This is how you do it in Mozilla, this is how you do it in
IE..." That's a lot easier than coding stylesheet switchers and
cookie/database lookups.

In any case, all I was saying is that being able to set persistent
settings for contrast and font size and great; being able to set
session-only settings I see as being a fairly useless toy which does
nothing but replicate standard browser behaviour in a non-standard way
(different icons on each website etc.)

Alistair

From: Chris Price
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 3:57AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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On 22/2/05 10:19 am, "aknock" wrote:

> being able to set
> session-only settings I see as being a fairly useless toy which does
> nothing but replicate standard browser behaviour in a non-standard way
> (different icons on each website etc.)

That's the point I was trying to make.

The end user is best served by encouraging them to make best use of their
browser instead of dumbing it down and reducing it to a mere place holder.

Its down to standards, the right tools for the job, intelligent designers
and switched on users.

--
Chris Price

Choctaw

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.choctaw.co.uk

From: Michael Moore
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 6:25AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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morrison.ben wrote:
> sorry i missed the point of your question.
>
> Doesnt hurt to include such an option, or at least explain to users
> how to change font sizes in a accessibilty link. But making it a
> priority seems a bit harsh.
>
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>

Not sure if it will be a priority in the final draft but as it is
discussed here it is a level 3 priority (nice to do) as opposed to level
1 (must do) or even level 2 (should do). Level 3 priorities
should be considered in the context of emerging technologies, target
audience, usability effects etc. Use them like using javaScript and
other technologies, so that they enhance usability/accessibility, no
need to follow them as if they are the law. There instances in the
current guidelines where applying them no longer adds anything to
accessibility. One example using a printable non-link character between
adjacent links, placing links in lists is a better solution due to
improvements in assistive technologies.

Mike

From: Tim Beadle
Date: Tue, Feb 22 2005 6:25AM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 and resizing text
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"chris.price" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote on 22/02/2005 10:58:34:
> That's the point I was trying to make.
>
> The end user is best served by encouraging them to make best use of
their
> browser instead of dumbing it down and reducing it to a mere place
holder.
>
> Its down to standards, the right tools for the job, intelligent designers
> and switched on users.

If the switcher's info is stored for longer than a
session, then that's IMHO OK. Otherwise I agree.

However: by the above logic, let's get rid of home
links - _people might use a different icon_

Au contraire, people have coalesced around a convention:
the site logo or name is clickable and links to the site homepage. I see
no reason why, in time, a convention for font-size switcher UI couldn't
be similarly arrived at.

Tim

Institute of Physics
Registered charity No. 293851
76 Portland Place, London, W1B 1NT, England

IOP Publishing Limited
Registered in England under Registration No 467514.
Registered Office: Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE England

This e-mail message has been checked for the presence of computer viruses.