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Browser zooming sufficient for WCAG 1.4.4 (resize text)

for

From: Robert Fentress
Date: Jun 2, 2015 6:51AM

I am confused as to the guidance given in the techniques for meeting or
failing to meet WCAG success criteria 1.4.4 (resize text)
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/#visual-audio-contrast-scale>;.
I wonder if somebody could clarify best practice for me. While WCAG 1.0
seemed clear in its guidance forbidding font sizing with absolute units,
WCAG 2 seems more vague, simply stating that text should be able to be
resized 200% without loss of content or functionality.

What is unclear is whether the, now ubiquitous, browser page zoom
functionality means that units like px are acceptable, since text whose
size is defined this way will scale along with the entirety of the page.
If you just want to enlarge the text, independent of its containing
elements, however, you will not be able to do so (at least with native
functionality) if absolute units are used. To me, relying on zoom
capability to handle text resizing seems insufficient, because it often
necessitates horizontal scrolling (a problem for my father who has low
vision and boosts font size). That seems to be acceptable from the
perspective of WCAG 2, though, since a sufficient technique for 1.4.4 is "G142:
Using a technology that has commonly-available user agents that support zoom
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2014/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20140916/G142>;". I've seen
this discussed different places on the web, but people seem to have
different perspectives on whether it is okay. WebAIM, at least, thinks "it
is not vital that text sizes be defined in relative sizes."
<http://webaim.org/techniques/fonts/#font_size>;

What do you folks think?

Best,
Rob

--
Robert Fentress
Senior Accessibility Solutions Designer
540.231.1255

Technology-enhanced Learning & Online Strategies
Assistive Technologies
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620 Drillfield Drive (0434)
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061