BodyReadability [rule] v1.0.0

Body text MUST meet the minimum readability floor: font-size ≥ 16px (1rem) and line-height ≥ 1.5 (unitless). Text below 16px causes user-pinch-zoom on mobile; line-height under 1.5 collapses descenders into ascenders and reduces sustained-reading speed.

Checks

• @community/check-body-readability

Applies To

@community/type-html-artifact

Severity

high

Severity Combination

body font-size < 14px                        → BLOCK
body font-size 14–16px or line-height < 1.4 → WARN
body font-size ≥ 16px AND line-height ≥ 1.5 → PASS

Failure Mode

Mobile users zoom-and-pan to read; older users abandon; WCAG SC 1.4.4 (Resize Text) and SC 1.4.12 (Text Spacing) fail; perceived quality drops. Tight line-height visibly crowds paragraphs.

Remediation

• Set html { font-size: 16px } (or 100%) and never override below 1rem for body copy.
• Apply line-height: 1.5 (unitless) on the body element so it inherits proportionally.
• For dense data UI where 14px is required, restrict to data tables and label them as such — do not apply globally.

Exceptions

• • Case: Caption / footnote / legal disclosure
  • Allowed When: Secondary text at 14px (0.875rem) is acceptable when it is unambiguously secondary and accompanied by adjacent body text at 16px.
• • Case: Dense data table cells
  • Allowed When: @impeccable/persona-dense-pragmatist-style dashboards may render data at 13–14px; user expectation is set by the surface.

BodyReadability [rule] v1.0.0

Body text MUST meet the minimum readability floor: font-size ≥ 16px (1rem) and line-height ≥ 1.5 (unitless). Text below 16px causes user-pinch-zoom on mobile; line-height under 1.5 collapses descenders into ascenders and reduces sustained-reading speed.

Checks

• @community/check-body-readability

Applies To

@community/type-html-artifact

Severity

high

Severity Combination

body font-size < 14px                        → BLOCK
body font-size 14–16px or line-height < 1.4 → WARN
body font-size ≥ 16px AND line-height ≥ 1.5 → PASS

Failure Mode

Mobile users zoom-and-pan to read; older users abandon; WCAG SC 1.4.4 (Resize Text) and SC 1.4.12 (Text Spacing) fail; perceived quality drops. Tight line-height visibly crowds paragraphs.

Remediation

• Set html { font-size: 16px } (or 100%) and never override below 1rem for body copy.
• Apply line-height: 1.5 (unitless) on the body element so it inherits proportionally.
• For dense data UI where 14px is required, restrict to data tables and label them as such — do not apply globally.

Exceptions

• • Case: Caption / footnote / legal disclosure
  • Allowed When: Secondary text at 14px (0.875rem) is acceptable when it is unambiguously secondary and accompanied by adjacent body text at 16px.
• • Case: Dense data table cells
  • Allowed When: @impeccable/persona-dense-pragmatist-style dashboards may render data at 13–14px; user expectation is set by the surface.

Applies To

@community/type-html-artifact

Severity

high

Validates With

• @w3c/source-wcag-22

Severity Combination

body font-size < 14px                        → BLOCK
body font-size 14–16px or line-height < 1.4 → WARN
body font-size ≥ 16px AND line-height ≥ 1.5 → PASS

Failure Mode

Mobile users zoom-and-pan to read; older users abandon; WCAG SC 1.4.4 (Resize Text) and SC 1.4.12 (Text Spacing) fail; perceived quality drops. Tight line-height visibly crowds paragraphs.

Remediation

• Set html { font-size: 16px } (or 100%) and never override below 1rem for body copy.
• Apply line-height: 1.5 (unitless) on the body element so it inherits proportionally.
• For dense data UI where 14px is required, restrict to data tables and label them as such — do not apply globally.

Exceptions

• • Case: Caption / footnote / legal disclosure
  • Allowed When: Secondary text at 14px (0.875rem) is acceptable when it is unambiguously secondary and accompanied by adjacent body text at 16px.
• • Case: Dense data table cells
  • Allowed When: @impeccable/persona-dense-pragmatist-style dashboards may render data at 13–14px; user expectation is set by the surface.

See Also

• @community/check-body-readability