Annex

WCAG 1.4.4 — Resize Text

Text must be able to scale to 200% without losing content or functionality.

What this means for a store

Disabling zoom in the viewport meta tag is a single line, but it locks low-vision customers out of the store entirely on mobile. The information printed smallest — price, size chart, shipping terms — is exactly the information that needs enlarging.

The failures we see most often

user-scalable=no or maximum-scale=1 in the viewport meta tag.

Why it happens: Older mobile templates added it to stop accidental double-tap zoom. It is unnecessary in modern browsers and actively harmful.

Fixed-height containers that clip text once it grows.

Why it happens: The layout is built to pixel heights and overflow is hidden when the content expands.

Font sizes set in px rather than rem, so the browser's text size setting has no effect.

Why it happens: Fixed pixel values are exported from the design tool.

How to check it yourself

  1. View source and check the viewport meta tag for user-scalable=no or a maximum-scale below 2.
  2. Set desktop browser zoom to 200% and confirm the price, Add to Cart button and navigation are still visible and usable.
  3. Try pinch-zooming on mobile.

Fixing it, by platform

What this page covers

What follows is the practical meaning of a WCAG 2.2 success criterion. Automated tests catch only a portion of accessibility issues, so a clean scan result does not mean compliance. Platform paths vary by version and theme.

Source

The formal definition of this criterion: W3C — Understanding Resize Text