Requirement for 200% text increase nearly impossilbe to meet in most cases

Name: Detlev Fischer
Email: fischer@dias.de
Affiliation: DIAS GmbH
Document: TD
Item Number: G178
Part of Item: Applicability
Comment Type: technical
Summary of Issue: Requirement for 200% text increase nearly impossilbe to meet in most cases
Comment (Including rationale for any proposed change):
In addition to the comment regarding the test case spec. in G178, it should be noted that for most web pages using several columns, the requirement for a 200% increase of text size will be impossible to meet (the same goes for browser based text-only resizing) and is therefore likely to be ignored. Such ignorance is helped by the interpretation of alternative options to meet Success Criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text), since  option 1 (G142) suggests that supporting zoom resizing (which most modern browsers offer out oif the box without any effort by the designer) is already sufficient. This appears as a disincentive regarding the provision of text-only resizing and the additional effort of creating fluid layouts that resize gracefully.

Proposed Change:
The (additional) requirement to allow a more modest text-only resizing (say, 150%) might raise the bar in a meaningful way and not de-incentivise designers in the same way as the current all-to-easy way of meeting success criterion 1.4.4 *without any effort*.

Received on Tuesday, 18 January 2011 08:03:20 UTC