WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Screen readers, math symbols, and Word

for

From: Terrill Bennett
Date: Nov 17, 2010 10:57AM

Cliff,

In Word 2003 with NVDA 2010.2, the line "If a [unicode 2265] b then
do something" is read as "If a b then do something"

I used Word's menu options Insert -> Symbol and typed 2265 in the
"Character code" text field and chose "Unicode (hex)" in the "From"
drop-down, and in the document I do see the singe-character
"greater-than-or-equal-to" symbol.

-- tb --

At 11:55 AM 11/17/2010, you wrote:
>One of our authors who has tested Word documents in JAWS 9 has
>doscovered that the "greater than or equal to" symbol (Unicode
>character 2265) is announced as "greater than."
>
>In some cases this might be a minor annoyance, but the difference is
>important in documents that tell people how to comply with
>environmental regulations. Is there a good solution to this problem?
>
>If not, we're thinking of just replacing the character with an
>inline graphic of the same size with appropriate alt text. Thoughts?
>
>And is this just a JAWS thing, or do other screen readers do the same?
>
>Cliff
>
>
>Cliff Tyllick
>Usability assessment coordinator
>Agency Communications Division
>Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
>512-239-4516
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>