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Re: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?

for

From: glen walker
Date: Apr 11, 2022 11:18AM

I've tried several times to post my notes. The doc file is 230K but
somehow it expands to 320K when posting and doesn't get approved. I even
tried zipping the file, which is 213K but that's seen as 290k and still
won't go through. So here are my notes copied here as plain text and
without screenshots.

Font sizes on ios

How to determine 1.4.4 200% zooming.

Want a size twice as big as original (so 6/32nd from original 3/32nd)

Need between 3 and 4 ticks from end of font size slider when "larger sizes"
is enabled.

Default text size

· 3/32 (measured with ruler on actual ios screen)

· 24px (viewed with image viewer on PC)

· 36px ("view actual size" [context menu in image viewer])



Largest text size (without "larger sizes" enabled)

· 4/32 (33% bigger)

· 32px (33% bigger)

· 49px (36% bigger)



4 ticks from end of font size slider ("larger sizes" enabled)

· 5.5/32 (83% bigger)

· 46px

· 71px



3 ticks from end of font size slider ("larger sizes" enabled)

· 6.5/32 (116% bigger)

· 55px

· 86px



Testing 1.4.4 on iOS



What is 200% zoom?



Testing 1.4.4 Text Resize on mobile (iOS specifically). In order to zoom
text to 200%, you have to turn on "Larger Accessibility Sizes".



- iOS 12: setttings > general > a11y > larger text
- iOS 13: setttings > a11y > display & text size > larger text



Once enabled, then more text sizes are available for zooming. The text
size can then be changed either in the above mentioned setting or in



- iOS 12 and 13: setttings > display & brightness > text size



From my measurements, it looks like you can't get exactly 200% zoom. I can
get just below or just above it.



*If you're testing 1.4.4 on native iOS apps, set the text size to just
below 200% which is 4 tickmarks from the right side of the slider, or 73%
if you listen with VoiceOver on.*



I have not measured things on Android.



This can be confirmed by the "typography
<https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography>"
section of Apple's Human Interface Guidelines page from Apple (
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography
).


The "Dynamic Type Sizes
<https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography#dynamic-type-sizes>"
section of that doc shows 7 font sizes (xsmall to xxxlarge) that correspond
to the 7 tickmarks on the "larger text" accessibility option (
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography#dynamic-type-sizes
).



If you enable "Larger Accessibility Sizes
<https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography#larger-accessibility-type-sizes>"
option in a11y settings, that adds an additional 5 font sizes (AX1 to AX5)
or 5 tickmarks to the slider (
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/typography#larger-accessibility-type-sizes
).



If I look at the "Large (Default)" text size, it says "body" text is
17pts. If we want 200% zoom, that would be 34pt. If you look in the
second table, under AX2, "body" size is 33 pt. Not quite 34pt but close
enough. AX2 is 4 tickmarks from the right end of the table, corresponding
to 4 tickmarks from the right end of the text slider, which is what I
recommended.







On Mon, Apr 11, 2022 at 11:02 AM glen walker < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> I use the "ruler" approach too. Not very elegant but is "good enough".
> Testing for contrast on mobile isn't the easiest. For the contrast itself,
> I take a screenshot then send to my PC then use CCA to snag the color
> values.
>
> On a related note, I had written up some thoughts on testing 1.4.4 on iOS
> and how to measure what a 200% font increase would be. I'll send my notes
> as an attachment in a follow up posting because the file is 230K and the
> limit to posting here is 250k and the attachment didn't come through the
> first time. (I guess the 230k file size combined with the text of my
> posting were too big).
>
> I think attachments make it through to forum subscribers although I'm not
> sure about digest subscribers. And I don't think attachments are saved in
> the archives so if you read this posting some time in the future, you won't
> see the attachment.
>
> Also, these are just notes so they're pretty rough. Certainly not
> publication-worthy.
>