Skip to content
UX Atlas
AccessibilityCraft conventionIntermediate

Text Spacing

Users must be able to increase spacing without content being clipped or lost.

Definition

WCAG 1.4.12 requires that no loss of content or functionality occurs when users set line height to 1.5 times the font size, paragraph spacing to 2 times, letter spacing to 0.12em and word spacing to 0.16em.

Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.

On this page
  1. Definition
  2. What breaks
  3. Sources
  4. Continue from here

What breaks

  • Fixed-height containers, which clip the enlarged text.
  • Buttons sized exactly to their label.
  • Single-line truncation with no overflow handling.
  • Absolutely positioned text over an image.
  • Tab bars and navigation with tightly fitted labels.

Sources

Where a source establishes something narrower than the popular reading of it, the note says so.

Continue from here

Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.

Check your work

Review passes that test whether this was done properly.

Short definition

The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.