Success Criterion 1.4.12
Conformance level AA
W3C reference F104

Text That Clips or Overlaps Under User Text-Spacing Settings

1.4.12 — Text Spacing

Scenario

Setting

A used-car marketplace's listing filter

What’s wrong

When a user increases line/letter/word spacing (a common low-vision aid), text gets cut off or overlaps other content.

Example

* { line-height: 1 !important; letter-spacing: 0 !important; }

Why it matters

People with dyslexia or low vision who apply extra text spacing to read.

How to test

Apply a text-spacing bookmarklet (line-height 1.5x, paragraph spacing 2x font size, letter-spacing 0.12x, word-spacing 0.16x) site-wide and scan every page for clipped or overlapping text.

How to fix

Use flexible containers (no fixed heights/overflow clipping) so spaced text stays visible. /* No !important overrides — let user style sheets adjust spacing */ !important locks out user stylesheets that increase line/letter/word spacing for readability.

Outcome

On a used-car marketplace's listing filter, this barrier is gone for people with dyslexia or low vision who apply extra text spacing to read — they can complete the task without hitting this wall.

Who is affected