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Re: Scaleable fonts for Priority 2 WAI guidelines

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From: Rahul Gonsalves
Date: May 14, 2008 4:10AM

Note: I am assuming that you mean WCAG 2.0 [1].

On 14-May-08, at 3:02 PM, Paul Collins wrote:

> I am just about to embark on a new page build that needs to meet
> Priority 2. It is quite design heavy and there are a few fonts that
> will need to be replaced. I was just wondering though, to meet
> priority 2, do all fonts need to be scaleable?

Guideline 1.4.4, states clearly that "text _(but not images of text)_
can be resized [...]"

Guideline 1.4.5 states that using images of text (if using a
background image (not SIFR)) is allowed - "The image of text can be
visually customized to the user's requirements."

Going back to Guideline 1.1, non-text content should have a text
equivalent. I'd say that you are in the clear if you have a clear text
alternative for the image of the text. I would suggest using a method
which involves _images_ of the text (I believe that there are server-
side measures to generate such images programmatically) and size them
in ems. That way, they are accessible to screen-reader users (an
appropriate ALT tag will be necessary), as well as people who would
prefer to increase the text size.

> Just wondering if it would be a requirement that all text needs to
> be scaleable for WAI priority 2?

Edit: I just realise that you probably are referring to WCAG 1.0. I am
less familiar with the 1.0 guidelines, but a cursory scan doesn't seem
to invalidate what I've already typed out ;-); except, perhaps this:

3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than
images to convey information.

Of course, the use of 'rather' leaves a fair amount of leeway, IMO.

Hope this helps,
Best,
- Rahul.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#perceivable

Perhaps helpful reading:

1. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#images-of-textdef
2. http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/20080430/Overview.php#qr-visual-audio-contrast-scale
3. http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20-20080430/visual-audio-contrast-scale.html
4. http://wcagsamurai.org/errata/errata.html#GL1.1-corr