WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: size of text when determining color contrast

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Oct 7, 2014 1:59AM

On 07/10/2014 07:06, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:

> Accessibility and WCAG 2.0 are distinct things, but related. I don't see
> any particularly serious problem with the definition of "large text",
> even though it is somewhat odd and vague.

Not saying it's a serious problem, but what I do have an issue with is
that it gives hard values to asses text size against, but it doesn't
make it clear what base size those sizes are anchored on. We know they
can't be actual physical sizes, so what's the anchored reference value?
If the intention (as seems to be the case, asking on WAI-IG list) is to
just say "text that's 1.5x larger than the base font size set for the
page, or 1.2x and bold" then it would be more helpful if the normative
glossary definition for "large scale (text)" actually said that.

> If you set font size to 18pt
> or larger, you can treat it as "large" when determining color contrast.
> It is true that in a pocket-size device, 18pt is likely to be much
> smaller than 18pt in traditional print typography is. Then again, the
> viewing distance is also very different.

But devs generally don't sets font size in pt values - in fact, if
following some advice from 1.4.4 Resize tex, they'd be using relative
font sizing instead. So again, if the intent was to count text that is
larger by a factor of 1.5 or 1.2 and bold from the base font size as
large, then it should say that, instead of muddying the waters by
talking about pt sizes.

IMHO, of course.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke