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Do screen readers pick up on emphasis in Reddit? (self.Blind)
submitted by vwlsmssng
With Reddit markdown text can be given visual emphasis, but do screen readers recognise this and indicate the emphasis?
For example *this text will display as italic but could be described as emphasized.*
**This line will appear as bold and could be considered as strong emphasis.**
~~This line is strikethrough.~~
Do these example just get read as plain text or are your screen readers telling you what sighted users see?
For example *this text will display as italic but could be described as emphasized.*
**This line will appear as bold and could be considered as strong emphasis.**
~~This line is strikethrough.~~
Do these example just get read as plain text or are your screen readers telling you what sighted users see?
DariusA92 7 points 3y ago
Not usually. From the formatted lines you wrote my screen reader only added a "deleted" in front of the strikethrough line. Some screen readers have the option to announce the formatting or read different formats or colors with different voices, but not many use them. It's distracting. People use this feature when they are doing editing or something like that.
vwlsmssng [OP] 3 points 3y ago
That's a pity.
I remember how in the early days of the WWW part of the justification of using HTML for mark-up was that screen readers would see the \<em\> and \<strong\> and describe the text for what is was and not what it looked like.
I remember how in the early days of the WWW part of the justification of using HTML for mark-up was that screen readers would see the \<em\> and \<strong\> and describe the text for what is was and not what it looked like.
djquik1 1 points 2y ago
Which screen reader are you using? Mine doesn’t show strikethrough.
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
[deleted]
djquik1 1 points 2y ago
How do you configure it to show strikethrough?
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
[deleted]
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
[deleted]
devinprater 1 points 3y ago
If more had this option, to convey formatting through speech changes, I'd use it all the time. I believe that we blind people should have equal access to *all* text formatting as sighted users, and not have to "see" the formatting in a textual style by pressing a command.
RJHand 3 points 3y ago
Not unless you explicitly set it up, which I haven't. Its possible, though.
Its just reading as any text would for me.
Its just reading as any text would for me.
bscross32 3 points 3y ago
Nope, at least not by default. It can be switched on, but it's generally extraneous information and it doesn't affect the way it's pronounced, just that there's a strike through or italics, etc.
vwlsmssng [OP] 1 points 3y ago
> it doesn't affect the way it's pronounced,
I was hoping it might do something like this, say the words with some emphasis. I guess the problem is that the semantic distinction between emphasis and italic never made into the wider conscious, so what are screen readers to do if they can't reliably interpret the authors intention.
I was hoping it might do something like this, say the words with some emphasis. I guess the problem is that the semantic distinction between emphasis and italic never made into the wider conscious, so what are screen readers to do if they can't reliably interpret the authors intention.
bscross32 2 points 3y ago
I don't know but it's something I never really felt like I needed.
rp-turtle 3 points 3y ago
When using voiceover on an iPhone, no it doesn’t announce any of those text attributes. If anyone knows how to adjust that, let me know.
Prefect316 2 points 3y ago
I believe you can find a setting for text attributes in the rotor settings.
rp-turtle 3 points 3y ago
I found one for punctuation but not text attributes. I looked in the rotor section within the voiceover section.
Prefect316 2 points 3y ago
You know, I remember it being there but I could be making it up entirely. I thought it was there. Sorry about that. It shouldn't be too tough to integrate in the future, though I'd imagine the cases for wanting to hear every attribute change to be quite limited.
ukifrit 3 points 3y ago
it could be made more comfortable to use if formating changes like italics and other were anounced by sound rather than by voice.
rp-turtle 2 points 3y ago
No worries. I am sure it would be easy to add as an option in the future.
devinprater 2 points 3y ago
Emacs with Emacspeak can, and Narrator could if I wanted to use the sucky Reddit site, and JAWS for Windows can with much configuration and Investiture, but no other screen reader automatically conveys this.
oncenightvaler 2 points 3y ago
Ok this is odd, I set my VoiceOver punctuation to "all" and then I thought it would recognize the Italics or Bold because it recognizes them when I am typing them but it did not when I was reading your post.
MRXGray 2 points 3y ago
There's another keystroke to press. This speaks out text formatting attributes.
**And**, this keystroke's for screenreaders like JfW (JAWS for Windows) and NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access, also for Windows) ...
​
**So,** it's JfWOrNVDAKey+f
***Note:*** JfW or NVDA key is normally the insert key in the numpad ...
​
**P.S.** For ***color***, it's JfWOrNVDAKey+5 **\[** *not the 5 in the numpad* **\] ...**
**And**, this keystroke's for screenreaders like JfW (JAWS for Windows) and NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access, also for Windows) ...
​
**So,** it's JfWOrNVDAKey+f
***Note:*** JfW or NVDA key is normally the insert key in the numpad ...
​
**P.S.** For ***color***, it's JfWOrNVDAKey+5 **\[** *not the 5 in the numpad* **\] ...**
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