WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Punctuation in JAWS

for

From: Carin Headrick
Date: Jun 3, 2010 8:48AM

The amount of punctuation spoken is user-defined. On my system, it reat I
apologize I'm sorry, that's just the way I am. The comma was simply
signified by a pause and I had to look for the parentheses. So, it all
depends on the user's preferences.

Carin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Garcia, Bobby" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 9:42 AM
Subject: [WebAIM] Punctuation in JAWS


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