1.4.12: Text Spacing

What it means

Content must not break when users increase text spacing: line height to 1.5×, paragraph spacing to 2× line height, letter spacing to 0.12× font size, and word spacing to 0.16× font size. Nothing important should clip or overlap.

Browser extensions and user stylesheets apply these overrides.

How to fix it

• Avoid fixed heights on text containers that clip when spacing grows.
• Let buttons and labels grow vertically when line height increases.
• Test with a text-spacing bookmarklet or browser extension.
• Check that icons aligned to single-line labels still align acceptably when text wraps.

Quick examples

• Good: Card layouts expand when users increase line and paragraph spacing.
• Bad: Navigation labels overlap the logo when letter spacing is increased.
• Good: Form help text remains fully visible with taller line height.
• Bad: Badge text is cut off by a fixed 24px height container.