Alignment + Click Target

In the context of design, the use of straight lines & right angles communicate that it has been crafted by a human. That it has been designed. Nature doesn't use them. When creating a webpage, it is easy to create layouts constructed with straight lines & right angles. However, when we need to incorporate click-target size requirements, layouts can lose their alignment. Below defails an approach that fulfills these requirements without breaking alignment.

1. Requirements

Imagine we need to code the layout for a web page. It will have 3 root elements:

• ▪ a back link in the top left,
• ▪ a list below the link &
• ▪ a section for content to the right.

Elements should be positioned so:

• ▪ the link & list items' text should align vertically,
• ▪ the link & main's text baselines should align horizontally,
• ▪ 16px space between elements & between elements and page border.

2. Add Content

Add the contents to the page & remove any excess white-space. To achieve this:

• ▪ set all margins & padding to 0 &
• ▪ use Capsize to generate the CSS required to trim unwanted vertical space above & below text.

The <body/> will be acting as a layout component. I believe a trait of a good layout component is it adapts to its contents. I'm using a CSS grid to position the root elements. The left column's width is set to auto, enabling it to adapt to the link & list's contents. The right is set to 1fr, filling the remaining width of the layout.

<a class="backLink capsizedText" href="">
   Back
</a>

<ol class="list">
   <li class="capsizedText">item 1</li>
   <li class="capsizedText">item 2</li>
   <li class="capsizedText">item 3</li>
</ol>

<main class="main">
   <p class="capsizedText">
      main content
   </p>
</main>

3. Add Space

Add space between elements:

• ▪ padding: 16px; to <body/>
• ▪ gap: 16px; to <body/>'s grid.
• ▪ gap: 16px; to <ol/>'s flex container.

Visually, we are now fulfilling all requirements.

/* Layout --------------------------- */
body {
   padding: 16px;

   display: grid;
   grid:
      "backLink main" auto
      "list main" auto
      / auto 1fr;
   gap: 16px;
}

.backLink { 
   grid-area: backLink; 
}

.list { 
   grid-area: list; 

   display: flex;
   flex-direction: column;
   gap: 16px;
}

.main { 
   grid-area: main; 
}

4. Increase Click-Target

Unfortunatley, there is an accessibility problem with the link. The size of the clickable area is only 38 x 10px. The recommended minimums are:

• ▪ 44 x 44px for AAA rating.
• ▪ 24 x 24px for AA rating. This can be reduced to 20px if:
  • ▫ the area is inline (such as a a link within a paragraph) or
  • ▫ there is a minimum 4px gap between adjacent clickable areas.

1 approach to fix this is to add padding to the link:

.backLink { 
   grid-area: backLink;
   padding: 8px; 
}

Although this has fixed the accessibility problem, it has broken the layout's alignment:

• ▪ the link & list items' text no longer align vertically,
• ▪ the link & main's text no longer align horizontally &
• ▪ the space between the left & right columns has increased beyond 16px. Calculated from the right-most letter in the left column to the left-most letter in the right column.

5. Alignment Fix

We can use a different approach that will solve both the accessibility problem while maintaining the layout's alignment. Instead of adding padding, add an absolutley positioned pseudo-element to the link. This allows setting a click target to any size without effecting the positioning of the link or its adjacent elements. As capsize makes use of pseudo-elements, the link's text is moved into a <span> to prevent styles interfering with each other.

.backLink { 
   grid-area: backLink;

   position: relative;
}

.backLink::after {
   --min-size: 24px; 

   content: "";

   width: 100%;
   height: 100%;
   min-width: var(--min-size);
   min-height: var(--min-size);

   position: absolute;
   top: 50%;
   left: 50%;
   transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
   
   background: hsla(0, 0%, 0%, 0.1);
}

We now have a layout that adapts to its content, has alignment across all elements & passes accessibility requirements.

Where to Next?

Notes
    
  │
  └── CSS
        
  │
  ├── 3D
        
YOU ARE HERE
        
  │
  ├── Alignment Click Target
        
  │
  ├── Box Sizing
        
  │
  ├── Floating Image
        
  │
  ├── Layout Component
        
  │
  ├── Reset
        
  │
  └── Typography Setup