Principle 1: Perceivable
Supporting users when enlarging text
It's a simple task for a user to change their default text size in browsers. All desktop browsers have the ability to zoom into a web page. Most browsers also allow users to select to change their font size, making reading content for them much more clear and simple. When designing and developing a site, we must consider this within our layout and structure.
testing and checks
Checking your site is zoom friendly
Couple of options here, Firefox has the functionality available to increase text size alone, just head into view > zoom. You can also find a number of plugins on Chrome to do a similar job. Text zoom is a good option.
On web browsers
- Turn on text-only zoom (View > Zoom > Zoom Text Only) or download a zoom text plugin if using Chrome
- Zoom in six times using Command + (Mac) or Control + (Windows) to 200%
- Explore the page to be sure all content is readable. Watch especially for content that disappears beyond the margins of its container, off the page or overlaps with other text.
On mobile browsers
When using a desktop or notebook-based browser, you can resize the window to simulate viewing on a small screen. For pre-set sizes, simply right click, select developer tools and then choose the device you wish to test from the dropdown menu.
You may also wish to check on a device too. You can increase font sizes on your phone by visiting settings and finding accessibility features. Make sure, when testing, that the pinch and spread capabilities of phones and tablets still work on your application. This is basic functionality of those devices that should not be broken.