WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

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

for

From: Detlev Fischer
Date: Apr 15, 2013 11:57AM


Hi Jared,
Of course you're right about SC 1.4.8 - my oversight. - I meant to qualify 'on the conformance level AA' - which is the level commonly required in national directives (and the forthcoming EU mandate 376).
I absolutely concur with your recommendations. Text-only resizing to work up to 150% happens to be what the German variant implementation of WCAG, the BITV-Test, currently requires.
Detlev


On 15 Apr 2013, at 19:33, Jared Smith wrote:

> 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
> > > --
Detlev Fischer
testkreis - das Accessibility-Team von feld.wald.wiese
c/o feld.wald.wiese
Thedestraße 2
22767 Hamburg

Tel +49 (0)40 439 10 68-3
Mobil +49 (0)1577 170 73 84
Fax +49 (0)40 439 10 68-5

http://www.testkreis.de
Beratung, Tests und Schulungen für barrierefreie Websites