MEC-03 — Minimum font size
Short answer
MEC-03 measures whether body text drops below 10pt. Point size is read from each text run’s transform matrix; the size carrying the most characters counts as body size. Body text under 10pt — or a large share of text under 9pt — fails the rule.
Impact
7 pts
Penalty
mechanical · medium
What it checks
- Point size carrying the most characters
- Share of characters below 9pt
- Shrink-to-fit behaviour
Why it matters
Recruiters cannot read it on screen and it disappears in print. Shrinking type to fit signals an inability to prioritise, and some parser pipelines lose characters at very small sizes.
How to fix it
Set body text to at least 10pt (10.5–11pt preferred). To free space, cut low-value bullets and tighten margins instead of shrinking the font.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use 9pt to stay on one page?
No. Remove low-value bullets and tighten margins first. Smaller type hurts readability and can break character extraction.
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