Resize Text, Multiple Ways & Why Parsing is part of History | Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group Session 11
The Study Group is nearing its end, but before the party is over we look at 3 topics: Resize Text, Multiple Navigation Paths and Parsing.
Can you believe the study group is almost over? The next session on July 10th will already be our last one. But before the party ends, let’s revisit session 11: We went over how to test for resize text, multiple ways of navigating to one web page, and why “WCAG 4.1.1. Parsing” is now part of history but lives on in test ID 20.A.
You can also watch the full session on YouTube.
18.A. Resize Text (WCAG 1.4.4)
Text must be resizable to at least 200% without any loss of content or functionality and crucially, without relying on assistive technology. Browser zoom, OS-level features, or built-in page controls all count as valid mechanisms.
The following 4 criteria must all be met for a pass:
A non-assistive-tech-reliant mechanism exists to resize text to ≥200%
Text remains uncropped, untruncated, and unobscured
All interactive functionality stays accessible
No content disappears when zoomed
Common Failures
Overlapping paragraphs or bleeding text
The navigation menu disappears when zoomed in
Cut-off or truncated text (that just ends in the middle of the wo…)
Fixed-position elements that obscure other parts of the page
Examples
A bit of critique on the course materials is due: One example was a screen recording of the DHS See Something Say Something campaign scaled to 200% zoom. I thought optimistically that I could use this page as a live example for the study group and grabbed the link. Color me surprised when I tested it and half of the screen was taken up by a blue banner. The text is still readable, but personally, I would not consider this a good practice example.
Let this be a lesson in that accessibility will deteriorate if not considered with every continuous update. As a passing example, I used Accessibility First instead.
19.A. Multiple Ways (WCAG 2.4.5)
Users must have 2 or more functional methods to locate any given webpage within a website structure. Your non-exhaustive list of options includes:
Site maps
Search forms
Table of contents
Navigation menus (dropdowns/trees)
Contextual links between pages
But remember: Having multiple options is meaningless unless they actually work and lead to the correct destination.
Practical Example
A news article may be reachable via:
Top menu navigation
Footer links
Site search
Article-to-article linking (”more news”)
2 or more working pathways = passing
Exceptions:
Standalone single-page sites (no page hierarchy)
Sequential-step processes (checkout flows, locked quiz steps)
Confirmation/final transaction pages
User-generated search results pages
These scenarios are inherently linear or conditional, so expecting alternative paths wouldn’t be within reason.
20.A. Parsing (is Part of History, but also WCAG 4.1.1)
Parsing has been deemed as obsolete and was entirely removed from WCAG 2.2. Since the Trusted Tester is built on WCAG 2.0. it is still included there. Now this begs the question:
How to test for 20.A. Parsing?
You don’t. That’s right, 20.A. Parsing is marked as “Not Tested”. The Trusted Tester methodology never included automated parsing checks as ANDI is not capable of that, and manual code review falls beyond the intended tester scope.
Why Was It Removed?
Originally designed to address early assistive technology struggles with malformed HTML. Modern AT no longer needs to directly parse HTML - the underlying technical challenges either vanished or shifted elsewhere and are covered by other success criteria.
Coming Up Next: The Grand Finale
Mark your calendars! We are live one more time on Friday, July 10th at 4 PM, diving into two advanced topics plus Q&A:
Conforming Alternate Versions – Understanding when alternate versions qualify for compliance
Non-Interference & Conformance Reporting – Best practices for documenting findings professionally
Practical tips for taking the exam and Q&A opportunity - Submit your questions as issues on GitHub or ask them in the live chat.
Study Group Resources
ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool (bookmarklet)
Read more about the study group below, and join the next session through GDG Vienna.
What is Section 508? | Section 508 Trusted Tester Study Group Session 1
Together with the Google Developer Group Vienna, I am hosting a study group for the Trusted Tester certification. You can watch the previous session recordings on YouTube and find the presentation and transcript on Drive.