Login
You're viewing the dmv.community public feed.

Replies

  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 2🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • sabiksabik@rants.au
    Oct 12, 2026, 1:00 AM

    @petersuber @urlyman
    AIUI, the problem with using Unicode italics is that many screen readers will read them out letter by letter using their full Unicode names, so _Games_ becomes "mathematical italic capital g mathematical italic small a mathematical italic small m mathematical italic small e mathematical italic small s"

    They are letters, screen readers just treat them as being special letters that warrant being read out in full, like they were mathematical or physical symbols

    💬 1🔄 1⭐ 0
  • Ell 🏳️‍⚧️c9a@cathode.church
    Oct 12, 2026, 3:15 AM

    @sabik @petersuber @urlyman To underline this a bit (ha!): they _are_ unicode characters, but so are all manners of things you wouldn't expect to find in mundane prose (a selection: ␥⁍ℚℲ⇒∭⎙⏯)

    The italic letters in Unicode were never intended as letters to be used as copy. Screen readers treat them like mathematical symbols because that's literally what they are (as in, that's why they're in Unicode in the first place)

    Unicode has long been clear in their stance that formatting is outside of their scope, and should be done with markup, which unfortunately doesn't stop people from making ill-advised websites that "convert" text to a series of characters from the "mathematical symbols" block and make everything more confusing and difficult, especially for those who rely on screen readers.

    And, thanks to both of you for this already being edited <3

    💬 0🔄 2⭐ 1
  • 💬 0🔄 1⭐ 1