Text Accessibility Requirements
I have always been aware of accessibility standards as they were an important consideration as I worked through designs but it was while at Halo Studios that I had started deep-diving into the exact legal requirements.
This research specifically focuses on the specifications around text. It’s important to note that there is no single text-size requirement that applies to every platform. Web and mobile focus mostly on contrast, scaling and spacing while physical displays include requirements based on actual character height measured in pixels.
TL;DR
This section focuses only on accessibility requirements established through U.S. laws and regulations. Platform and industry recommendations are covered separately in the detailed sections below.
Requirements depend on who provides the website
Covered state and local government websites must meet the applicable Level A and Level AA requirements in WCAG 2.1.
View WCAG 2.1 →
Covered government apps must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA
The rule applies to mobile apps that a state or local government provides or makes available, including certain apps provided through contractors or other arrangements.
View ADA Title II Mobile App Guidance →View WCAG 2.1 →
ATMs & Fare Machines
Characters must also use either light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background.
There is not one universal U.S. text requirement
The ADA specifications above apply specifically to covered ATMs and fare machines. They should not automatically be treated as the legal text-size requirements for every kiosk or self-service touchscreen.
Other kiosks can be subject to different accessibility obligations depending on the type of device, where it is used, who provides it, and which law or regulation applies.
Covered communication features must be accessible
For games, this can apply when the software provides covered communication functionality such as certain player-to-player text messaging or voice communication.
The FCC rules are primarily performance-based: covered communication functionality needs to be accessible and usable. Specific game-interface measurements usually come from platform or industry accessibility guidance, not directly from the CVAA.
View FCC Advanced Communications Accessibility Rules →
WCAG Conformance Levels
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) use three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Level AA is the most common accessibility target for websites and digital products, while Level AAA has stricter requirements.
Common Accessibility Target
Enhanced Accessibility
Text Contrast
Text contrast is the difference in brightness between text and the background behind it. The greater the difference, the easier the text is to read.
Examples
Too hard to read for many people.
Passes WCAG AA for large text.
Passes WCAG AA for normal-sized text.
Tools for Checking Contrast
Web
Normal Text
Normal-sized text needs at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background.
Large Text
Large text can use a lower minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.
18pt Regular
14pt Bold
Text Must Be Able to Grow
People must be able to increase text to twice its original size without content being cut off, hidden, overlapping, or becoming unusable.
The Page Must Adjust When Content Gets Bigger
Increasing text size or browser zoom should not make content disappear, overlap, or force people to constantly scroll left and right just to read.
The Layout Must Handle User-Adjusted Spacing
Some people increase the space between lines, paragraphs, letters, or words to make text easier to read. The page still needs to work when those settings are changed.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Cras mattis consectetur purus sit amet fermentum. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum.
Donec ullamcorper nulla non metus auctor fringilla. Maecenas faucibus mollis interdum. Vestibulum id ligula porta felis euismod semper. Nullam quis risus eget urna mollis ornare vel eu leo.
Use Real Text Whenever Possible
Text should generally be actual selectable text instead of words baked into an image. Real text can respond to accessibility settings and assistive technology.
The words are part of the image and cannot easily adapt.
The text can be resized, recolored, selected, and read by assistive technology.
Mobile
The same WCAG text requirements covered in the Web section can also apply to mobile software. The biggest additional consideration on mobile is supporting the text-size settings built into the operating system.
Covered U.S. state and local government mobile apps are required to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
View ADA Title II Web & Mobile Requirements →Support Larger System Text
People can increase the preferred text size through their phone's accessibility settings. The interface needs to respond without hiding content or making important controls unusable.
Give Larger Text Room to Grow
Fixed-height cards, buttons, labels, and navigation can cut text off when someone increases their system text size.
Use the Operating System's Text Scaling
iOS and Android already provide accessibility settings that allow people to enlarge text. Native interfaces should be designed to respond to those settings.
Text Follows the User's Preferred Size
Dynamic Type lets supported text automatically grow or shrink based on the text size selected in iOS accessibility settings.
View Apple Accessibility Guidance →Scalable Pixels
Android recommends defining text using sp units so text responds to the person's system font-size setting.
View Android Font Scaling Guidance →Large Displays / Kiosks
Large touchscreens and kiosks do not all share one universal accessibility requirement. In the United States, however, the ADA includes specific display requirements for ATMs and fare machines.
Unlike most digital accessibility requirements, some of these specifications use physical measurements. That means the finished screen and viewing environment matter, not just the number of pixels used in the design file.
Minimum Character Height
On covered ATM and fare-machine displays, characters must be at least 3/16 inch (4.8 mm) high.
The measurement is based specifically on the physical height of the uppercase letter I as it appears on the finished display.
Because this is a physical measurement, there is no single pixel or point-size equivalent. The actual digital size needed depends on the physical screen.
Three U.S. quarters stacked together are about 5.25 mm thick.
That is just slightly larger than the 4.8 mm minimum height of the uppercase “I”.
A typical pencil eraser is roughly 6–7 mm across.
The required uppercase “I” is therefore a little smaller than the diameter of a common pencil eraser.
Use a Sans Serif Font
The ADA requirement for ATM and fare-machine display screens specifies that displayed characters use a sans serif font.
Text Must Visually Contrast With Its Background
The standard requires either light characters on a dark background or dark characters on a light background.
The Screen Must Be Visible From a Lower Viewing Position
Covered ATM and fare-machine screens must be visible from a point 40 inches (1015 mm) above the center of the clear floor space in front of the machine.
This helps make sure the screen can be seen from different viewing heights, including by someone using a wheelchair.
About 36"
A typical kitchen countertop is about 36 inches high.
The ADA viewing point is therefore roughly 4 inches above a standard kitchen counter.
This is not the required height of the screen itself. It is the viewing position from which the screen must remain visible.
There Is Not One Universal Text Minimum for Every Kiosk
Important distinction: the 3/16-inch character requirement and 40-inch viewing requirement above come from the ADA standards for ATMs and fare machines.
They should not automatically be treated as the legal requirements for every touchscreen kiosk. Other kiosks and self-service machines can fall under different requirements depending on the device, location, and regulation.
Xbox
Microsoft's Xbox Accessibility Guidelines provide specific recommendations for readable text across console, PC, VR, mobile, and Xbox Game Streaming.
These are platform accessibility guidelines rather than federal legal requirements. The legal requirements for covered game communication features are covered separately above.
Minimum Size Changes With the Platform
Xbox measures text using its body height and recommends different minimum default sizes depending on the type of display.
Measure the Full Text Body Height
Xbox's pixel measurements are based on the full body height of the text, not just the visible height of a capital letter.
The measurement includes the descender space, x-height, and ascender space.
More Pixels Are Needed at Higher Resolutions
A console game that uses a 26-pixel body height at 1080p should use 52 pixels at 4K.
The pixel count doubles because 4K has twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of 1080p. The goal is to preserve a comparable apparent text size rather than make the text look twice as large.
Players Should Be Able to Double the Minimum Text Size
Xbox recommends allowing players to resize text up to 200% of the minimum size without losing content, functionality, or meaning.
Text Cannot Simply Disappear When It Gets Larger
Enlarged text can easily outgrow fixed HUD panels, menu rows, dialogue boxes, and other game UI containers.
Xbox recommends providing another way to read text that extends beyond the visible area, such as scrolling text, a text popup, or an appropriate abbreviation.
Text Inside Controller Glyphs Counts Too
Text inside icons and controller glyphs should also meet the applicable minimum text-size guidance.
Xbox also recommends that icons and glyphs scale along with surrounding text up to the 200% text-scaling target.
This matters for UI such as “Press X to Confirm”, where the letter inside the controller-button graphic can otherwise end up much smaller than the surrounding text.
Steam / Steam Deck
Valve provides general accessibility recommendations for games distributed through Steam, plus separate text-legibility requirements for Steam Deck compatibility.
These are platform requirements and recommendations rather than U.S. federal law.
Players Should Be Able to Increase Menu and HUD Text
Steam recommends either using a large default text size or allowing the player to increase it.
Minimum Character Height at 1280×800
For Steam Deck compatibility, Valve says the smallest on-screen interface character should never fall below 9 pixels high at the native 1280×800 resolution.
Valve recommends aiming for 12 px whenever possible.
Text Must Be Readable From a Normal Handheld Distance
Steam Deck interface text must be easily readable from approximately 12 inches / 30 centimeters away from the display.
Twelve inches is roughly the length of a standard ruler.
The requirement reflects the way a handheld device is normally viewed.
Subtitle Size Should Be Adjustable Separately
Steam recommends allowing players to adjust subtitle text size separately from menu and HUD text.
Valve also recommends a readable sans-serif font, speaker identification, and an optional background container with adjustable opacity.
PlayStation
PlayStation publicly identifies text accessibility through feature categories rather than publishing Xbox-style minimum pixel sizes.
The PlayStation Store uses accessibility tags so players can see whether a game supports features such as clear text, large text, subtitle sizing, and captions before playing it.
Text Accessibility Is Identified by Supported Features
Games Can Provide Larger UI Text Options
PlayStation's accessibility tags identify games that provide larger menu and HUD text. Individual PlayStation titles can offer multiple text-size settings rather than a single fixed size.
For example, God of War Ragnarök provides separate Default, Large, X-Large, and XX-Large UI text settings.
View God of War Ragnarök Accessibility Options →Subtitle Size Can Be Controlled Separately
PlayStation's accessibility categories separate subtitle and caption accessibility from general UI text.
Individual games may also provide speaker names, subtitle colors, backdrops, and multiple size settings.
View PlayStation Text & Subtitle Example →The Console Also Provides Text and Display Accessibility Features
No Public Universal Pixel Minimum Found
Unlike Xbox and Steam Deck, PlayStation's public accessibility material does not provide one universal minimum pixel height for game UI text.
The public guidance instead identifies whether games support features such as Clear Text, Large Text, subtitle sizing, and other readability options.
Individual PlayStation games can then define their own specific size settings and accessibility implementations.
Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 includes several system-level accessibility options for text and screen readability.
Unlike Xbox and Steam Deck, Nintendo does not publicly provide a universal minimum pixel size for game text.
Three Text Size Options
Nintendo Switch 2 lets people choose between Standard, Large, and Maximum text sizes in system settings.
Bold Text and High Contrast
Nintendo also provides system options that make interface text thicker and increase contrast between menu elements.
Players Can Magnify the Screen
Nintendo Switch 2 includes a Zoom feature that can enlarge the screen in system menus and while playing supported games.
System Text Settings Do Not Change Game Text
Nintendo specifically notes that Text Size, Bold Text, and High Contrast apply to the HOME Menu and System Settings.
Those settings are not automatically reflected while playing a game. Game-specific text accessibility still depends on the options provided by the individual game.
The system Zoom feature is different: it can be used during supported games, although some game modes may not support it.
