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Punctuation in JAWS

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From: Garcia, Bobby
Date: Jun 3, 2010 8:42AM

Hey, gang! I'm developing some web-based training courses that are being
tested for accessibility using JAWS. What I noticed is that JAWS reads
punctuation and I'm curious to get some different views on this.



Take, for example, the following statement: I never apologize (I'm
sorry, that's just the way I am).



Jaws will read: I never apologize open parens I'm sorry...



My question is, does this take away/add to the user's experience? Is it
a hindrance to hear that, is it superfluous, or do any users benefit
from visualizing the parens? I mean, I know I can always tailor my
content to avoid using excessive punctuation but I'd still like to know
how different people feel about this. And not necessarily JAWS only, but
any other screen readers, as well.



Thanks!



Bobby Garcia