Large enough controls

Silktide measures the buttons, links, and form controls on your pages and reports any that are smaller than 44 by 44 pixels. Larger controls are easier for everyone to press accurately, especially on touchscreens.

Why this matters

Small targets demand precision that many people do not have. Visitors with tremors, limited dexterity, or larger fingers on touch devices frequently miss small controls, activate the wrong one, or need several attempts. Generous target sizes make your site faster and less frustrating for every visitor, not just those with motor impairments.

This is WCAG success criterion 2.5.5 (Target Size Enhanced), a Level AAA requirement. AAA is an aspirational standard: most sites fail this check by default, because 44 by 44 pixels is larger than typical links and buttons. If you are working towards Level AA, focus first on the related Interactive component distance check, which tests the 24 by 24 pixel AA requirement.

How to fix it

1. Enlarge key controls to at least 44 by 44 CSS pixels, using min-width, min-height, or padding. Prioritise primary actions such as navigation, search, and form buttons.
2. Where enlarging a control is impractical, provide an equivalent link or control on the same page that does meet the size - Silktide skips small links automatically when a large enough link to the same destination exists.
3. If you have decided a control is acceptable as it is - for example, it falls under a WCAG exception this check cannot detect - you can approve the finding or exclude the element from checking.

/* Problem: a 30x30 icon button */
.search-button {
  width: 30px;
  height: 30px;
}

/* Fix: meet the 44x44 recommendation */
.search-button {
  min-width: 44px;
  min-height: 44px;
}

How Silktide tests this

1. Test both the mobile and desktop versions of every page; results may differ between the two.
2. Find the interactive elements: links, buttons, form fields, and image map areas.
3. Ignore elements that are not normally visible, such as content positioned off screen for screen readers, and any elements you have excluded from checking.
4. Ignore controls that sit directly next to text, since WCAG exempts targets that appear in a sentence or block of text.
5. For links, ignore any that have an equivalent: another visible link on the same page pointing to the same destination that is at least 44 by 44 pixels.
6. Report every remaining element smaller than 44 pixels wide or 44 pixels tall. Sizes are rounded to one decimal place before comparison, matching what you see reported.

Troubleshooting

Only some failures are listed

Silktide reports up to 100 examples per page. Because failures of this check are common, a page can have more; fixing shared styles resolves many findings at once.

WCAG allows exceptions this check cannot see

WCAG exempts targets whose size is essential, set by the browser rather than your styles, or duplicated by an equivalent control elsewhere on the page. Silktide detects the inline-text and equivalent-link exceptions automatically; the others require your judgement. Approve findings that qualify.

Learn more

• Understanding Target Size (Enhanced) (WCAG 2.5.5)
• Interactive component distance