Electronic Accessibility
Learn More About Text Spacing
Last updated: 6/25/2025
Understanding WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing
If you explore WCAG 1.4.12 Text Spacing (AA), you'll note certain spacing parameters:
- Line height (a.k.a. "line spacing" in Storyline): 1.5 times the font size
- Spacing following paragraphs: 2 times the font size
And so on...
These parameters are not spacing requirements — that's one of the most common misconceptions with this success criterion. Instead, they're parameters that learners need to be able to achieve on their end — using browser extensions, like the Text Spacing Editor, or custom style rules — without a loss in content or functionality occurring, like text no longer being visible or text overlapping with a button to the point that the button can no longer be used.
In Storyline eCourses, the accessible text setting must be toggled on for learners to be able to achieve WCAG 1.4.12. Thus, the setting must be described to learners in a Storyline eCourse's instructions, and ideally, it should be toggled on by default.
Text spacing recommendations
Particularly dense text can be intimidating and more difficult to read, especially for learners who have certain cognitive and vision disabilities. To account for this, accessibility and typography best practices recommend using spacing settings beyond typical software defaults (on top of allowing for learners to set their own spacing in accordance with WCAG 1.4.12). For example:
- Line spacing: 1.15 – 1.5 times the font size (typically achieved through the "Multiple" line spacing setting)
- Spacing following paragraphs: 1 – 2 times the font size (typically achieved through Before or After paragraph spacing)
The amount of spacing these settings achieve will vary depending on the font, so the exact values that are optimal for one font may not be optimal for another. The ultimate goal is to achieve an amount of spacing that makes text appear less dense and intimidating, and not packed so tightly together it's difficult to read, without using so much spacing the lines of text or paragraphs seem disconnected from each other and not part of a cohesive text block.