RE: Enabling Zoom on Mobile Devices

Jonathan,

 

JA wrote: Gregg, go to m.wjla.com on an iPhone.    The page when viewed on the phone contains this meta tag.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=0">

 

When I go this page/site, m.wjla.com, on an Android device though – it zooms in and out just fine. 

 

So doesn’t that make it not an author problem, but rather a mobile browser user agent (on a specific device) support problem? 

 

 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 
Senior Accessibility SME (WCAG/Section 508/ADA/AODA)

 

Cell: 703-371-5545 |  <mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ryladog@gmail.com | Oakton, VA |  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/> LinkedIn Profile | Office: 703-371-5545

 

From: Jonathan Avila [mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 9:37 PM
To: Gregg Vanderheiden
Cc: Mike Elledge; GLWAI Guidelines WG org
Subject: RE: Enabling Zoom on Mobile Devices

 

Gregg, go to m.wjla.com on an iPhone.    The page when viewed on the phone contains this meta tag.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=0">

 

See a discussion of this setting below or anywhere else on the web.  This is a very common setting for reasons discussed in the thread.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6397748/whats-the-point-of-meta-viewport-user-scalable-no-in-the-google-maps-api

 

For another different but related issue visit www.cnn.com <http://www.cnn.com>  on an iPhone.  You will see that the site does enlarge but fixed positioned portions of the page cause the magnified main area of the page content to be very small.  While in this case you can technically get to everything and it would appear to pass, however, I can envision situations where some fixed positioned content might prevent access to the zoomed page because it overlaps when magnified to 200%.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jonathan

 

 

-- 
Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group 
jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com <mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> 

 

703-637-8957 (o) 
Follow us:  <http://www.facebook.com/#%21/ssbbartgroup> Facebook |  <http://twitter.com/#%21/SSBBARTGroup> Twitter |  <http://www.linkedin.com/company/355266?trk=tyah> LinkedIn |  <http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog> Blog |  <http://eepurl.com/O5DP> Newsletter

 

From: Gregg Vanderheiden [mailto:gregg@raisingthefloor.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 8:14 PM
To: Jonathan Avila
Cc: Mike Elledge; GLWAI Guidelines WG org
Subject: Re: Enabling Zoom on Mobile Devices

 

The zoom feature has nothing to do with the site. 

 

the web page has no idea that it is being zoomed.   Think of it as using a magnifying glass.   There is simply nothing that the web page can do to keep you from using a magnifying glass — or a  mobile zoom feature on the phone. 

 

You wrote:

The zoom feature in Safari on iOS for example does not function when user scaling is blocked so as a person with a visual impairment I am prevented from zooming in on the page with browser zoom.

 

I know of no way to block the zoom feature.    I don’t know what you mean by ‘scaling’  but I never mentioned scaling.  I’m talking about zoom or magnify.   

You cannot block magnify/zoom that I know of — so you cannot fail the SC. 

 

Can you show me a page (send me a URL) of any page that you think has magnification blocked?   

I’ll give it a try.    There is always a chance that I am wrong… so willing to look if you think you have something that can block a magnification function.   don’t see how it can be done but willing to look. 

 

Thanks


gregg 

 

On Jan 15, 2015, at 5:44 PM, Jonathan Avila <jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com <mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> > wrote:

 

*  Also, please note that the normal ZOOM feature in all browsers is sufficient to meet this requirement.   It is therefore virtually impossible today to not meet this SC unless you either

 

Greg, I have to disagree, if a site designed for mobile blocks user scaling then how can I use the browser zoom feature.  The zoom feature in Safari on iOS for example does not function when user scaling is blocked so as a person with a visual impairment I am prevented from zooming in on the page with browser zoom.  Can you please explain how this does not fail WCAG – the situation described above is assuming they don’t have another in-page or apple-system-xxx font techniques as discussed earlier..

 

In my experience most mobile browsers do not have a zoom capability when user scaling is turned off.   Only a few offer an option to override the setting.  IMO there is an accessibility support issue on mobile for this success criteria – there is not sufficient support in browser to override the setting and therefore it’s a failure.

 

Jonathan

 

-- 
Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group 
 <mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com

 

703-637-8957 (o) 
Follow us:  <http://www.facebook.com/#%21/ssbbartgroup> Facebook |  <http://twitter.com/#%21/SSBBARTGroup> Twitter |  <http://www.linkedin.com/company/355266?trk=tyah> LinkedIn |  <http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog> Blog |  <http://eepurl.com/O5DP> Newsletter

 

From: CAE-Vanderhe [mailto:gregg@raisingthefloor.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 6:05 PM
To: Mike Elledge
Cc: GLWAI Guidelines WG org
Subject: Re: Enabling Zoom on Mobile Devices

 

the width does not determine the enlargement. 

 

with responsive design you can have a fixed width and be able to enlarge the content 300% or more. 

 

Also, please note that the normal ZOOM feature in all browsers is sufficient to meet this requirement.   It is therefore virtually impossible today to not meet this SC unless you either

1. find some way to shrink your text to the same degree that someone zooms the browser  so that it doesn’t change size as you zoom’
2. you create content that can ONLY be viewed by a certain browser and that browser has no zoom.

 

 

The problems being cited in the other posts are assuming things that are not required by WCAG. 

 

 

Gregg

 

 

 

 

On Jan 15, 2015, at 2:08 PM, Mike Elledge < <mailto:melledge@yahoo.com> melledge@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Hi All--

 

Is it required under WCAG 2.0 AA that users can enlarge mobile sites to 200%? The question came up during our monthly accessibility forum, and I haven't been able to find anything about it online.

 

Apparently it is not uncommon for designers to set a fixed width for Responsive Web Designs, which, it seems to me, would be a violation of 1.4.4.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Mike