Who this affects
The viewport meta tag blocks zooming. Users who need to enlarge text on a phone cannot, and this is one of the most common mobile accessibility failures.
How to fix it
Remove user-scalable=no and any maximum-scale below 5 from the viewport meta tag.
Effort Low · ~2 min
Where this sits in the standard
| WCAG success criterion | Level | EN 301 549 clause |
|---|---|---|
| 1.4.4 Resize Text | AA | 301-549, 9.1.4.4 |
EN 301 549 clause 9 applies these criteria to web content. The published version referenced by the European Accessibility Act is V3.2.1, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 level A and AA. More on the standard.
How to check it by hand
Zoom the page to 200% and then 400%. Text must reflow and remain readable without horizontal scrolling. On a phone, check that you can pinch to zoom at all.
Automated testing settles roughly a third of the WCAG success criteria. This rule is one an automated tool detects reliably — but a clean automated result is not proof of conformance.
Reference
Deque's technical write-up for this rule: meta-viewport
See whether your site trips this rule
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