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Re: Quoting previous emails

for

From: ckrugman@sbcglobal.net
Date: Dec 8, 2009 12:18AM

When punctuation settings are set in JAWS to"Read all" it will identify
quotes. The > signs are generally put in by the email programs and JAWS
reads each > sign.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 4:42 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] Quoting previous emails


> Preceding quoted text with greater than signs is standard in many
> email programs. The best way to do it, bar none, is for the
> person replying to only leave in the text to which they are
> directly replying which is necessary for context. However, this
> is a pain to do, and most people leave in the entire body of the
> previous thread without any editing. (I admit when I am low on
> spoons I will do that myself.)
>
> If you remove the greater than signs but leave in the quoted
> text, then it is impossible for sighted users to know what text
> is quoted and what is new. Some people try other indicators
> (indenting the quoted text, or turning it blue, for example) but
> that is invisible in many email programs (including mine) and
> probably invisible to screenreaders.
>
> Is there a standard way of indicating quotations in lists with
> many blind users? I admit, I just assumed JAWS would know the
> greater-than-sybol standard and adjust tone to match. We can
> always use prose (eg. Geoff said "This is a pain" and Andrew
> responded "You're right, it is"), but anything that's too
> high-maintenance is something people won't do consistently.
>
> -deborah
>