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Re: Large numbers and currency symbols in screen readers

for

From: Randi
Date: May 6, 2009 10:55AM


Hi there,

As a user of Voiceover, the dollar sign is always read before the
number. So it says, "Dollar 508. I would be able to understand it any
way it is written, if you do the M for million. As Patrick pointed
out, there are individual settings for how numbers are written. I have
mine set to read each number individually, because if I have it set to
say five hundred and eight million, phone numbers and ID numbers are
read that ways as well. So I would hear "Dollar five zero eight zero
zero zero etc". It does help if there are coma's because then my
reader pauses between each set of zeros rather than rattling them off
so that I must interact to count, or count really fast.

So I would vote for Dollar sign number and zeros, but using the M
makes sense as well. I don't think you need to worry about where the
dollar sign is.

HTH,
Randi

On 5/6/09, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Robison, Cole [EISU] wrote:
>> I'm looking for some insight in how to best optimize the representation
>> of large dollar figures in alt text
>
> I'd almost universally recommend presenting the alt text in the same
> format it is presented visually. If the image displays "$508M" then
> the alt text should be "$508M". If sighted users are expected to know
> what "$508M" is, why expect something less from users just because
> they don't happen to use a screen reader?
>
> But if you have full control over the presentation, then the other
> comments here have given good insight into better options for
> everybody.
>
> Jared Smith
> WebAIM
>