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Re: Speech Synthesizer or Screen Readers rendering of quotes

for

From: Jennifer Sutton
Date: Jun 10, 2005 3:35PM

Hello:

I assume you mean a screen reader, rather than a speech synthesizer? It
makes a difference, I think. And which screen reader may also make a
difference.

Perhaps I am the only one who grows ever more concerned about what seems to
me to be screen-reader-centric design for the Web. Just because one screen
reader, with one set of default settings does whatever it does with a given
page does not mean that ALL screen readers will behave in the same
way. I'd encourage you to make this clear to your site visitors.

No doubt, I am preaching to the choir, here, but I do see this focus on
testing with one and only one screen reader (by, I'm afraid to say, sighted
people who may never have seen a blind person surf). Sure, use a screen
reader to double check things, but I rarely see sighted people who
understand how a blind person surfs. And I'm not even including sighted
people who get hung up on the sound of the synthesizer in the first place.

Apologies for the ranty quality of this message, but screen-reader-centric
design really disturbs me because I see a lot of mis-information in
circulation, generally (not specifically on this listserv).

As for your particular question, with MY particular screen reader, I can
choose what it does with blockquotes. The default setting is NOT to inform
me of their existence. This choice makes sense to me, in order to cut down
on needless chatter. I can choose to know when/if I need to know that
there's a blockquote, and often, whether or not something is quoted text is
apparent via context.

I hope my opinions prove helpful, or if not helpful, perhaps, at least,
food for thought.

Best,
Jennifer

At 12:35 PM 6/10/2005, you wrote:
>Greetings everyone!
>
>I am writing a document on accessibility guidelines for my department. In many
>of the examples, I have put code, visual rendering, and speech synthesizer
>rendering. I am writing the examples for BLOCKQUOTE and Q. I have not
>found any
>information on how a speech synthesizer might render these to the user.
>
>Anyone have a clue?
>
>Annie Belanger