2022-11-27 15:57:03
2022-11-27 15:57:01
2022-11-15 02:40:23
1090132
Content warning: About accessibility and so-called "fonts"
I see some people talking about screen reader accessibility, so I want to point out a real bad habit some people have gotten into on Twitter and on Carrd pages which wreaks havoc on screen reader accessibility. I thankfully haven't seen it on the fediverse much.
Usually people refer to the habit as "Twitter fonts". This is a misnomer, though; these so-called "fonts" are just misusing various Unicode characters (mostly those designated as mathematical symbols) because someone thinks they "look cool". DO NOT DO THIS. Depending on the screen reader, some of them might be moderately legible, some of them might get spelled out, and the worst of them will spit out garbage like "JAPANESE LETTER JAPANESE LETTER CHINESE LETTER SQUARE ROOT CHINESE LETTER".
I recorded a video a while back to demonstrate how bad this can get:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLDvg0cZYZ8
🦇
#ScreenReader #Accessibility
Usually people refer to the habit as "Twitter fonts". This is a misnomer, though; these so-called "fonts" are just misusing various Unicode characters (mostly those designated as mathematical symbols) because someone thinks they "look cool". DO NOT DO THIS. Depending on the screen reader, some of them might be moderately legible, some of them might get spelled out, and the worst of them will spit out garbage like "JAPANESE LETTER JAPANESE LETTER CHINESE LETTER SQUARE ROOT CHINESE LETTER".
I recorded a video a while back to demonstrate how bad this can get:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLDvg0cZYZ8
🦇
#ScreenReader #Accessibility
How Twitter "Fonts" Sound to a Screen Reader
Sample of Orca, as set up on my Debian install, attempting to read 40 variations of, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," converted by a so-called ...YouTube