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Thread: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Wing Kuet
Date: Mon, Apr 11 2022 9:02AM
Subject: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?
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Does anyone have a suggestion on how to go about measuring font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps? I am testing a mobile app for colour contrast but trying to find out whether the fonts I am testing against are small or large fonts. I am resorting to measuring the physical size of the font and comparing that with a known size of text found elsewhere. I am just wondering if anyone has a quicker way to do that?
Regards,
Wing Kuet
Accessibility Consultant & Software Tester
Test Partners Ltd
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
From: glen walker
Date: Mon, Apr 11 2022 11:02AM
Subject: Re: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?
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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.
From: glen walker
Date: Mon, Apr 11 2022 11:18AM
Subject: Re: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?
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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 ADDRESS 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.
>
From: Priti Rohra
Date: Tue, Apr 12 2022 3:48AM
Subject: Re: Checking font sizes in Android and iOS mobile apps?
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Hello!
For mobile apps it is pretty difficult to figure out the font size.
To fetch accurate test results it is better to work it out with the
App's design team as they will have the accurate information. Share
the list of instances for which you would like to check contrast,
based on the information shared by the design team you can perform the
contrast test.
Automated tool if available can be of great help!
Always BPositive!
Priti Rohra
finately an area where automated tool if available can be of great help!
On 4/11/22, Wing Kuet < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Does anyone have a suggestion on how to go about measuring font sizes in
> Android and iOS mobile apps? I am testing a mobile app for colour contrast
> but trying to find out whether the fonts I am testing against are small or
> large fonts. I am resorting to measuring the physical size of the font and
> comparing that with a known size of text found elsewhere. I am just
> wondering if anyone has a quicker way to do that?
>
> Regards,
>
> Wing Kuet
> Accessibility Consultant & Software Tester
> Test Partners Ltd
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
> > > > >