• Success Criterion 1.4.5
  • Conformance level AA

Image-of-Text Used With No Way for Users to Customize It

1.4.5 — Images of Text

Scenario

Setting

A bank's mobile money-transfer screen

What’s wrong

Customization defense misused: no mechanism actually exists for users to adapt the imaged text.

Example 

<img src="transfer-limit-notice.png" alt="Daily transfer limit notice, pinch to zoom for details">
<!-- alt text claims zoom support, but the screen sets user-scalable=no -->

Why it matters

A customer told to 'pinch to zoom' can't, because the screen disables scaling, so the imaged fine print about transfer limits stays unreadable.

How to test

Check whether any customization mechanism actually exists (font/color/spacing controls) for imaged text relying on the 'customizable' exception: if none exists, the exception doesn't apply and it fails.

How to fix

Use real text rather than an image-plus-zoom claim, and never disable pinch-zoom, per what the customization exception actually requires.

<p class="limit-notice">Daily transfer limit: $2,500. Limits reset at midnight local time.</p>

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

Outcome

A customer enlarges the transfer limit text with their phone's normal zoom, without fighting a disabled gesture.

Who is affected

Low-vision customers who need to enlarge fine print have no working mechanism to do so despite the app's claim.

Learn more

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