The WCAG 2.1 – 2.5.5 Target Size (AAA) Guideline states that “the size of the target for pointer inputs is at least 44 by 44 CSS pixels.” There are exceptions, of course. But did you know that ignoring this guideline can have negative affects when Google indexes your mobile website?

WHAT GOOGLE WANTS

When Google checks the mobile usability of your website, it looks to see if “clickable elements are too close together.” If so, this means that your responsive website may be negatively affected in Google Search results.

From Google:

“A minimum recommended touch target size is around 48 device independent pixels on a site with a properly set mobile viewport. For example, while an icon may only have a width and height of 24px, you can use additional padding to bring the tap target size up to 48px. The 48×48 pixel area corresponds to around 9mm, which is about the size of a person’s finger pad area. Touch targets should also be spaced about 8 pixels apart, both horizontally and vertically, so that a user’s finger pressing on one tap target does not inadvertently touch another tap target.” [SOURCE]

THE PROBLEM MAY BE MORE THAN MOBILE BUTTONS

Here are some other items to check as well:

– Breadcrumbs that don’t display with enough line-height when the text wraps to the next line
– Footer links
– Social media icons that appear in a row

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

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