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Accessibility rule: Letter spacing does not meet minimum requirement, explained

Modified on: Tue, 18 Apr, 2023 at 12:11 PM

Making sure that written content has proper letter spacing improves the readability of the text and helps users consume information efficiently. Users should therefore be able to adjust letter spacing on the page without any loss of content or functionality.

Who is impacted by this barrier?

If there is not enough space between letters, people with low vision, dyslexia, or other types of learning and cognitive disabilities may find the text hard to read.

How does the rule work?

The !important rule in CSS is used to add more importance to a property or a value. In fact, when the !important rule has been set for letter spacing, it will override any other styling rule. Therefore Siteimprove checks that adjusting letter spacing is not prevented by !important unless it is specifically set to be at least 0.12 times the font size. You can read more about this rule in the technical documentation. 

How do I fix the issue?

If the CSS !important flag is used, letter spacing should be set to an accessible ratio of at least 0.12 times the font size.

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