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Re: IE doesn't increase font-size in px

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Apr 15, 2013 11:33AM


On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Detlev Fischer wrote:
> Looking at WCAG 2.0, there's nothing that spells "fail" if a page needs horizontal scrolling after a page zoom of 200%

Success Criteria 1.4.8 (Level AAA) does require that the page not have
horizontal scrolling when text is scaled to 200%.

Success Criteria 1.4.4 (Level AA) simply requires that text can be
resized to 200%. However, in the supporting documentation it clarifies
that if the page supports zoom to 200% (almost every web page does),
then you've met the requirements of the success criteria.

So if you're goal is merely Level AA conformance, you can pretty much
ignore text sizing requirements. However, we know that some users do
increase just their text sizes, so it's important for true
accessibility that their needs be met. But, such users rarely increase
the text size clear up to 200%. If a user requires 200%, they'll be
using page zoom, a screen enlarger, or something other than 200% text
sizing (for which the vast majority of the web fails miserably).

As such, our recommendations are to support page zoom to 200%
(congratulations, every page passes!) while trying to minimize
horizontal scrolling if reasonable (this is more difficult and usually
requires responsivity). We also recommend that the page maintain
readability and functionality (it doesn't have to look the same) at a
more reasonable text size increase - perhaps 150% at the most. One can
do so using fixed or relative font sizes. This approach seems to
adequately meet the needs of both audiences - those that zoom/enlarge
the page and those that increase text sizes.

Jared