WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Best Practice - representing time/date info

for

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Mar 25, 2020 1:34PM

This is directed to screen reader users and those who know more about them
than I:

In digital documents, what is the best way to represent dates and times so
they make sense to people who use screen reader technology?

Example:

When I just tested with VoiceOver (VO) the following "3:00 PM ET" - VO
stated "three zero zero p m e t"
When I tried "3-4 PM ET" = VO stated "three four p m e t"

How can we represent a specific time so it make sense?

Same issue with dates:

When I test with VO the following: "03/15/2020" - VO states "oh three slash
one five slash two thousand twenty"
When I test with VO the following" "March 15, 2020" - VO states "March
fifteenth two thousand twenty"

Is the second method preferred?

I've wondered about this for years and have never seen any guidance.

Stay safe, stay healthy

~j

John E. Brandt
jebswebs.com

<EMAIL REMOVED>
jebswebs.com