ACT Rule 9e45ec
Important word spacing in style attributes is wide enough
The third of the spacing rules, this time for word-spacing, which the criterion wants to be adjustable to at least 0.16 times the font size.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is approved, which in W3C's process means it was implemented in full by at least one tool or methodology and then signed off by a working group. Approval is a statement about tools, not a statement that this is the settled way to test the criterion.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 1.4.12 Text Spacing is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
Three rules, three properties, one criterion. Together they tell you nothing is bolted down through a style attribute. Whether the page actually holds together once a reader applies all four spacing values is still something a person has to watch happen.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 1.4.12 Text Spacing Level AA
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule 9e45ec at W3C.
Text must survive when users adjust spacing
People with dyslexia and low vision often increase line height, letter spacing or word spacing to read comfortably. The criterion sets the amounts a page must tolerate without losing content.
The failure is not the spacing itself. It is what the spacing reveals. A container with a fixed height clips its own text once the text needs more room.
Inline styles marked important are the direct cause. They override the user's own stylesheet and stop the adjustment from applying at all. The text overflows and becomes unreadable.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Important letter spacing in style attributes is wide enough A tool can check this
- Important line height in style attributes is wide enough A tool can check this
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.