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Re: Insights on Text Resizing

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From: Terrill Bennett
Date: Nov 18, 2010 1:15PM

I've always thought that zoom is different than changing the text
size. Zoom affects all content including images, while changing text
size affects only the text. Some user agents allow for control of the
text size without zooming, other agents offer only zoom. Therefore,
both methods need to be tested.

Am I wrong?

In "Examples of Success Criterion 1.4.4" it gives one example where
the user increases text size from 1em to 1.2em, and another example
where the user zooms:
http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-scale.html#visual-audio-contrast-scale-examples-head

Take, for example:
http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/

Click on the "Change text size" link at the top. Find the link for
the largest font size. When you click, watch the graphic logo in the
upper left corner - it does not change size, nor do the printer icons
on the right of the page.

Change the text size back to standard. Now zoom using your browser.
See the images and all other content scale.

There are developer toolbars for most popular browsers. If I'm
testing a site that doesn't have a "change text size control," I
usually open the developer toolbar, click on the body tag, and change
the font-size to twice whatever I find there. So, if the current size
says 2em, I change it to 4em. If nothing is there, I add
"font-size:200%". Text should now be at 200%.

Depending on the site, not all text may change. For example, perhaps
the H2 elements didn't change. So using the "inspect element" tool, I
click on an H2 element, and double the size for that element. If this
is the case, you shouldn't have to resize every element to get an
idea if the site is going to scale successfully.

It may not be a perfect solution, but necessity is the mother of
invention - and I haven't found tools available for every browser
that allows setting the text to a specific size.

-- terrill --

At 10:40 AM 11/18/2010, you wrote:

>IE will not take you up to 200% zoom with its standard controls.
>In Firefox, go to View>Zoom and check Zoom Text Only. Starting from the
>base zoom level, press Ctrl + 6 times to get to 200% zoom level. There is
>also an add-on called No-Squint if you'd rather do that.
>
>----------------------------------------
>From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>Sent: 18 November 2010 13:07
>To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
>Subject: [WebAIM] Insights on Text Resizing
>
>Need some insights on the text resizing success criteria of WCAG 2.0. As
>per WCAG 2.0, the page should be readable and functional even when the
>font size is doubled. In this context, by how much percentage does IE
>increases the font size when we change it from medium - larger and
>larger - largest using the options provided in text size.
>
>I'm trying to find out, how to quantify the term doubling (200 percent)
>the size? Can we measure it? I tried some toolbars for it, but did not
>get what I'm looking for. Is there any other better way to look at this?
>
>peace, veiky
>
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