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Visual cues

Do not block zoom

• Rule: meta-viewport
• Severity: Moderate
• WCAG level AA

Why it matters

user-scalable=no and a low maximum-scale stop people from pinching to zoom. For anyone with low vision, that turns a usable page into an unusable one on the device they use most.

How to fix it

1. Remove user-scalable=no and maximum-scale from the viewport meta tag.
2. Keep content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1".
3. Verify the layout still works at 200% zoom without horizontal scrolling.

In markup

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, user-scalable=no, maximum-scale=1">

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

The requirement behind it

This rule is one way of failing the following WCAG 2.2 success criteria. The W3C, which writes the standard, explains each of them:

• 1.4.4 Resize Text (opens in new tab) — WCAG level AA

Further reading

Deque University on meta-viewport (opens in new tab)

Deque maintains axe-core, the open-source engine our scanner runs. Their page documents the rule as the engine implements it.

Automated checks find failures a browser can prove. They cannot judge whether a caption is accurate, whether an alt text is useful, or whether a page can be operated end to end with a keyboard — those need a person.