Resize Text
Summary:
WCAG 1.4.4, "Resize Text," mandates that text should be scalable using standard browser or device settings, without causing content loss or functionality issues. It's about providing flexibility in text size, allowing users to adjust according to their visual needs.
What:
The guideline focuses on ensuring that text in digital content can be enlarged up to 200% without the aid of assistive technology, while maintaining the integrity and functionality of the content. This is essential for users with low vision or those who find small text challenging to read, making digital experiences more accessible and user-friendly.
Why:
Text resizing is a fundamental aspect of web accessibility. It caters to the needs of users who might not have specialized software to magnify screen content. By enabling text to enlarge effectively, we cater to a diverse range of visual capabilities, ensuring our content is usable by a broader audience. This benefits everyone too; have you ever needed to zoom in on text while screen sharing?
Examples and Scenarios:
- Web Articles: Readers should be able to increase the text size of articles without the content disappearing off-screen or text overlapping other elements.
- Online Forms: As text is enlarged in forms, all related elements, including fields, labels, and buttons, should scale correspondingly, keeping the form functional.
- Navigation Menus: Increasing the text size in navigation menus should not disrupt the menu's layout or functionality.
How to Comply:
- Websites: Use responsive design principles, employing relative units for text sizes in CSS (like ems or percentages) instead of fixed units (like pixels).
- Mobile Apps: Ensure app interfaces adapt to the device's native text scaling settings, maintaining usability at increased text sizes.
- Software Applications: Implement text scaling options within the application and test that the UI remains functional and coherent at larger text sizes.
Exceptions:
- Captions and Images of Text: Text as part of logos, brand names, and images or captions are exempt from this scaling requirement.
- Complex Visualizations: Detailed graphical representations might not fully support extensive text resizing if it alters the essential information conveyed.