Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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# G188: Providing a button on the page to increase line spaces and paragraph spaces

## Applicability

Any technology.

This technique relates to:

- Success Criterion 1.4.8 (Visual Presentation)
  - How to Meet 1.4.8 (Visual Presentation)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.8 (Visual Presentation)

## Description

Many people with cognitive disabilities have trouble reading text that is single spaced. A button that increases the line height will help them read the content. In order to retain the separation of paragraphs, the space between paragraphs should also increase so that it is at least 1.5 times as high as the line spacing.

Note: This technique can be used in combination with a style switching technique to present a page that is a conforming alternate version for non-conforming content. Refer to C29: Using a style switcher to provide a conforming alternate version (CSS) and Understanding Conforming Alternate Versions for more information.

## Examples

### Example 1

Use standard style page switching and have a button or link on the page that switches the stylesheet. The new stylesheet contains a rule to increase the line height and a class to increase the paragraph spacing.

Example Code:

    p {line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 2em;}

## Resources

Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.

- Developing sites for users with Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties

## Related Techniques

- C21: Specifying line spacing in CSS
- C22: Using CSS to control visual presentation of text
- C29: Using a style switcher to provide a conforming alternate version

## Tests

### Procedure

1. Check that there is a button or link on the page that increases the size of the line height and the paragraph spacing, which is labeled as such.

2. Activate the button or link.

3. Check that the feature increases the line height and the paragraph spacing.

4. Check that the paragraph spacing increase is at least 1.5 times greater than the line spacing.

### Expected Results

- Checks #1, #3 and #4 are true.

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