Design Nomenclature / Systems & Spec
Target size
Also called SC 2.5.8, touch target, hit area, tap target
This entry has not been translated yet and is shown in English.
The area that responds to a pointer or touch, measured in CSS pixels. WCAG 2.2 SC 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) sets 24×24 at Level AA, with exceptions for inline links, adequate spacing, and equivalent controls elsewhere; SC 2.5.5 Target Size (Enhanced) sets 44×44 at Level AAA.
In practice
Confused with the visual size of the control. The target is the hit area — padding counts, so a 16px icon can meet 24×24 without being redrawn.
Not to be confused with
- Focus indicatorThe visible marker showing which control holds keyboard focus. WCAG 2.0 SC 2.4.7 (AA) requires only that some mode of focus is visible. WCAG 2.2 adds SC 2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured at AA, and SC 2.4.13 Focus Appearance at AAA, which sets a minimum indicator area and 3:1 contrast between focused and unfocused states.
- CSS pixelThe abstract unit CSS lengths resolve to: an angular reference — about 1/96 inch at arm's length, a visual angle near 0.0213° — rather than a hardware pixel. It maps to device pixels through the device pixel ratio, so one CSS px is two or three physical pixels on most phones, and more again under zoom.