In our team, we recently had a discussion about text resizing widgets and their pros and cons. I was somewhat shocked when I encountered fierce opposition again the introduction for those little helpful buttons - they were supposed to be harmful!
All I can say is: I don’t think so!
Some claim that people would use those little widgets instead of resizing the text with their browser. Now that would be bad. How could users dare not to know how to use their browsers? I ask in return: how dare we to assume that people want to know that kind of stuff? Yes, I know, we could make this world a better place if people knew of all those little gadgets their browsers have… or are there maybe people who have other things to do?
I would understand the whole argument if those widgets were a hindrance - for example a big fat button right in the middle of the screen. However, they are the exact opposite: they are tiny little add-ons, conveniently and unobtrusively located at the end or beginning of a main content area.
A few helpful links:
Resizing text and confidence - “isolani” summarizes beautifully why some people might have a problem with browsers in general.
Text size widgets - quite useful actually - “Grant Broome” argues that showing people how to do the resizing might be great, but there is no harm done in making it easier for them on the page
… and for people who want to show a little video on how resizing can be done:
Teach a Man how to Fish (or how to Resize Text)
I am still absolutely confused why people who want to maximise usability and accessibility would not want to use these little helpers. Any ideas?
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