Does Typography Standard replace WCAG testing?

No. Typography Standard evaluates font files against TS 2.0. WCAG evaluates digital experiences that use those fonts, including size, zoom, and color contrast.

What is the Il1 rule?

The Il1 rule checks whether capital I, lowercase l, and digit 1 are visually distinct. Typography Standard treats this as a mandatory ambiguity gate (TS2-AMB-001).

Is a Typography Standard certificate a legal accessibility guarantee?

No. Reports and certificates record the outcome of a defined font-file test. They are not legal advice and do not certify WCAG, ADA, or Section 508 compliance of a website or product.

Published requirements and test methods

Every TS 2.0 requirement has a permanent identifier, defined scope, severity, measurement method, threshold, and stated limitation. Mandatory failures block certification regardless of overall score.

For selection guidance that is not itself a certification requirement, see the font selection and accessibility guide.

Character Support

Complete inventories keep words intact. Missing digits, punctuation, or Latin coverage breaks real documents before style even matters.

ID	Requirement	Severity	Summary
TS2-COV-001	Basic Latin Coverage	mandatory	Required Basic Latin characters present in the glyph inventory.
TS2-COV-002	Digit Coverage	mandatory	Digits 0–9 must be present.
TS2-COV-003	Punctuation Coverage	recommended	Core punctuation required for professional text.
TS2-COV-004	Latin-1 Supplement Coverage	recommended	Western European Latin-1 subset coverage.
TS2-COV-005	Currency Symbol Coverage	informational	Percent score for currency symbol support.

Legibility

Can letters be told apart, and can they be recognized at small sizes? This pillar covers the Il1 rule, related ambiguity pairs, and render-based recognition checks.

ID	Requirement	Severity	Summary
TS2-READ-001	Small-size recognition at 8px	recommended	Measured recognition accuracy at 8px using a fixed render environment and automated recognition scoring against reference text.
TS2-READ-002	Small-size recognition at 10px	recommended	Measured recognition accuracy at 10px using the same fixed render and automated recognition method.
TS2-READ-003	Small-size recognition at 11px	recommended	Measured body-text recognition accuracy at 11px using the published render method.
TS2-READ-004	Small-size recognition at 12px	recommended	Measured recognition accuracy at 12px using the published render method.
TS2-READ-005	Numeral recognition at 10px	informational	Numeric recognition accuracy at 10px.
TS2-READ-006	Punctuation recognition at 10px	informational	Punctuation recognition accuracy at 10px.
TS2-AMB-001	i/l/1 Distinction	mandatory	Measured separation between i, l, and 1 glyphs (gate threshold applies).
TS2-AMB-002	O/0 Distinction	mandatory	Measured separation between O and 0 glyphs (gate threshold applies).
TS2-AMB-003	rn/m Distinction	recommended	Measured separation between rn and m glyph patterns.
TS2-AMB-004	S/5 Distinction	recommended	Measured separation between S and 5 glyphs.
TS2-AMB-005	b/8 Distinction	informational	Measured separation between b and 8 glyphs.

Technical Quality

The file must be a real, usable font: packaging, glyph inventory, naming, and metric windows such as x-height.

ID	Requirement	Severity	Summary
TS2-TECH-001	WOFF2 Format Present	mandatory	WOFF2 signature or packaging required for technical pass.
TS2-TECH-002	Non-empty Font File	mandatory	Uploaded file must contain font bytes.
TS2-TECH-003	Minimum Glyph Inventory	mandatory	Glyph count must exceed the minimum inventory threshold.
TS2-TECH-004	Name / Weight Metadata	mandatory	Family or weight identification present.
TS2-TECH-005	OpenType Feature Depth	informational	Detected OpenType feature tag depth.
TS2-TECH-006	x-height Window	recommended	x-height within expected relative window.

Layout

Vertical metrics and x-height consistency affect how reliably text sets across sizes and environments.

ID	Requirement	Severity	Summary
TS2-LAY-001	x-height Consistency	recommended	Layout reliability signal from x-height metrics.
TS2-LAY-002	Vertical Metrics Stability	informational	Vertical metrics / related size stability signal.

Production Readiness

Web packaging, payload size, family completeness, and declared license metadata for shipping decisions.

ID	Requirement	Severity	Summary
TS2-DEP-001	Web Format Packaging	mandatory	WOFF2 packaging for web deployment.
TS2-DEP-002	File Size Efficiency	recommended	Compressed payload scored against efficiency threshold.
TS2-DEP-003	Weight Count	informational	Declared or detected weight count toward family completeness.
TS2-DEP-004	Variable or Static Family Signal	informational	Variable-font or multi-weight static packaging signal.
TS2-LIC-001	License Metadata Declared	recommended	License or copyright metadata declared for the submission (metadata presence — not legal clearance).
TS2-LIC-002	Commercial Use Flag	informational	Declared commercial-use flag from submission metadata.
TS2-LIC-003	Web Embedding Flag	recommended	Declared web-embedding permission flag from submission metadata.

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