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Re: email address @ vs. AT or use of an image for the @ symbol

for

From: glen walker
Date: May 1, 2018 9:01AM

A lot of sites used to separate the email into parts so that screen
scrapers could not automatically gather email addresses from websites and
be used for spamming. I don't know if that practice helps or not but it
might explain why it was done.

As far as the faulty email addresses, that wouldn't be any different than
having a bad link on your page that goes to a page that doesn't exist
anymore or that was moved. It's a bad UX for everyone but is not strictly
an accessibility violation.

If AT is uppercased, the screen reader might say the letters separately, as
A and T.
The @ image might need an alt text of "at".

If I use the virtual cursor to navigate through the email pieces, if I can
hear "name at college.edu" then I can probably figure it out. But if I
hear "name image college.edu", then you have an accessibility violation
(1.1.1). If I hear "name a tee college.edu", then it's debatable if
there's a violation. It could be a AAA readable issue (3.1).


On Tue, May 1, 2018 at 8:33 AM, Crystal Tenan < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hello,
>
> We have a group that I'm working with to try and have them move away from
> using AT or an image of the @ sign in their email addresses that are on our
> websites. For example cltenan AT college.edu instead of
> <EMAIL REMOVED> . I find these other ways confusing and inaccessible
> when using a screen reader. I can't find anything that directly spells out
> not to use this practice, but I'm trying to provide them feedback as to
> what in the Revised Section 508 guidelines it violates. I'm having
> difficulty aligning exactly which guideline this would fall under, any
> assistance would be appreciated. *Also they hyperlinked the AT and image @
> email addresses so the links go to a faulty email address.
>
> Thank you,
>
> --
> *Crystal L. Tenan*
> IT Accessibility Coordinator
> NC State University
> Office of Information Technology
> Outreach, Communications & Consulting
>
> P: 919.513.4087
> Campus Box 7109
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu
> > > > >