Success criterion 1.4.12
Text Spacing
No loss of content or functionality occurs when users increase line height, paragraph spacing, letter spacing and word spacing.
- Level AA
- Principle 1: Perceivable
- Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable
In a user’s words
“I give my letters room to breathe, and your buttons chop the words in half.”
What each role can do
- Product manager
- Require layouts to survive user-adjusted text spacing.
- Designer
- Avoid fixed-height text containers; leave room for text to grow.
- Developer
- Let containers grow with content; avoid fixed heights and overflow: hidden on text.
- Tester
- Apply the WCAG text-spacing bookmarklet and check for clipped or overlapping text.
Once it is fixed
“My spacing, your layout, zero clipped words. Reading feels calm again!”
Share this with your team
The quotes are written to illustrate the criterion. They are not testimonials from real people. For the official wording, find 1.4.12 in the W3C quick reference for WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab).
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