This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung →
Text that overruns its container: wrapping instead of cutting off
Text must wrap, not run out of its container or get cut off. The check measures, per device profile, whether text content extends beyond its element's boundaries — a reliable sign of a fixed height or width in the wrong place.
- The cause is usually a rule from the design: the tile should be the same height everywhere, so it gets a fixed height. As soon as text runs longer than in the design — two lines instead of one — it disappears behind the edge.
- This especially hits translations: the same sentence is regularly longer in German than in English, and a container that fit in the design no longer does.
- Anyone who has set a larger text size sees the problem first. That's exactly why it's not a cosmetic flaw, but an accessibility problem.
FAQ
Is cut-off text always a mistake?
If information gets lost, yes. A deliberate truncation with an ellipsis and the full text available elsewhere is different from text that just ends behind an edge.
Why does this only happen in one of our languages?
Because text lengths differ significantly between languages. A container designed for the shorter version isn't big enough for the longer one.