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Re: Reduce font size on all paragraphs and success criterion 1.4.4 Resize text.

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Aug 5, 2019 6:05PM

On 06/08/2019 00:22, Joan Preston wrote:

> I'm trying to figure out if a reduced font size on a page is considered an accessibility issue when the font can be enlarged by the user. The design team wants style all the paragraphs on a page using smaller font or byline font of 0.8em compared to the our regular font size of 1.05em (see links below.) I suggested they add letter-spacing of .03em to make the byline font more readable, but they don't want to do that. They feel the small font size is a way to save space and users can just enlarge the font if they need too. I know WCAG criterion 1.4.4 Resize text, https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/resize-text.html, pertains to being able to resizing the text up to 200%, however, when many users have to resize the text or the design is relying on resizing, then criterion is not met.

There is no normative requirement for any particular minimum text size
in WCAG. In theory, if browsers allowed it, you could have text sized to
just 1px height, and WCAG would not have anything to say about that
(though of course your users might).

And no, it's irrelevant if "many users have to resize the text or the
design is relying on resizing". 1.4.4 simply requires that users be able
to resize up to 200%.

Of course, there are real-world usability/readability considerations
that go beyond WCAG's normative requirements...

P
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Patrick H. Lauke

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