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Re: The punctuation and typographic symbols that screen readers don't read

for

From: Léonie Watson
Date: Jan 22, 2014 3:39AM

Paul Bohman wrote:

"Leonie, I agree that new users of screen readers and developers can feel overwhelmed by too much punctuation. And I don't want to take away individual preferences for verbosity with punctuation. The important thing for me, though, is for web developers and content writers to be able to communicate to listeners. Oftentimes punctuation and typographic symbols are crucial. Without them, meaning is lost. Usually the content writers don't know that the meaning is lost. They assume that everything is fine because they put it in text format, but unfortunately everything is not fine. Chances are that at least one major brand of screen reader will not read it correctly."



I think there are two aspects to the discussion:



1. Improvements to TTS handling of punctuation.

2. Default screen reader punctuation settings.



There is definitely room for improvement with regard to the first. It doesn't happen too much on a daily basis, but when reading certain complex documents it's surprising how much the meaning can be altered by an unrecognised punctuation mark.



The second point is a lot more subjective. It's one of those areas that would be good to do some user research around, to discover more about how users handle punctuation within their chosen screen reader(s).





Either way, it's good to be having the discussion.



Léonie.



From: Paul Bohman [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: 22 January 2014 02:52
To: <EMAIL REMOVED> ; WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] The punctuation and typographic symbols that screen readers don't read



Leonie, I agree that new users of screen readers and developers can feel overwhelmed by too much punctuation. And I don't want to take away individual preferences for verbosity with punctuation. The important thing for me, though, is for web developers and content writers to be able to communicate to listeners. Oftentimes punctuation and typographic symbols are crucial. Without them, meaning is lost. Usually the content writers don't know that the meaning is lost. They assume that everything is fine because they put it in text format, but unfortunately everything is not fine. Chances are that at least one major brand of screen reader will not read it correctly.





Paul Bohman, PhD
Director of Training
Deque Systems, Inc
www.deque.com
703-225-0380, ext.121