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Re: 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) - Large-scale text

for

From: E.A. Draffan
Date: May 15, 2012 1:27AM

I would just like to ask the question - what happens if you want to just increase the size of the fonts rather than the pictures so you can read text more easily and increase line spacing - this has been found to be incredibly helpful for those with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or LD?

Zoom is often too much and leaves one with lots of scrolling in both directions not helpful if you are someone who finds text appears to jump or you are coping with what they call 'rivers of text' .

Best wishes E.A.

Mrs E.A. Draffan
ECS, University of Southampton,
Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246
Mobile +44 (0)7976 289103
http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk
http://www.emptech.info


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: 15 May 2012 00:05
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) - Large-scale text

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 4:02 PM, David Ashleydale wrote:

> For one thing, I find this odd because the recommendation for 1.4.4
> Resize Text is to not use "fixed" font sizes like points. Is 1.4.4
> still valid in today's web environment?

Because nearly all modern browsers these days resize pixel-based fonts and also support page zoom, I do believe the restriction against absolute font sizes is dated and irrelevant. See other concerns about this requirement at http://webaim.org/blog/wcag-next/#textsizing

> For another, what's the best way to determine what "18 point" is in
> other measurement systems?

As you note, it's a bit tricky. I'm not sure I entirely understand what WCAG is actually requiring here, but one way you can do this is to measure the pixel text height of a particular font face at default size (e.g., 100% or 1em). Firebug provides a good way to get the pixel size. Multiply this number by 1.2 to get the minimum "Large text" size for bold text and multiply by 1.5 to get the minimum "Large text" size for non-bold text. Regardless of how the text is sized in the document, the pixel heights can be measured and compared to these baselines.

As with all things in conformance, common sense is important. Even if something does not meet the WCAG thresholds, if it looks like it needs more contrast, IT DOES!

Jared