Re: screen reader reporting of negative values

 

Part of the problem in our initial testing with JAWS was that the
HTML code contained a negative value like so: <p>Current
balance<span>-$567.89</span></p>, in this instance JAWS ignores the dash
(rightly so) and just outputs "dollar 567 point 89". This seems correct
behaviour in that "balance" and "-$567.89" require a space between them
to output correctly. 

Having overcome that I have created a matrix of
screen reader support (all default settings) for the various HTML
characters relating to negative values, google document link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlSXagiNqzFddHhJZ0JsWVU1WG5nLXBHMTFlVUJOWGc#gid=0

The
HTML document tested is attached to this email.

Key findings:
1. No
spacing and using the dash character (row 4) is best supported across
browsers - although Window-Eyes outputs dash as dash rather than minus
like JAWS and NVDA.
2. &mdash; and &#8212; are only supported by JAWS,
not NVDA or Window-Eyes
3. &#8722; and &minus; are only supported by
NVDA, not JAWS or Window-Eyes (see next point for JAWS behaviour)
4.
Additional testing without the currency symbol ($) removed: for example
-567.89, 
JAWS read &#8722; and &minus; correctly as: "minus 567 point
89". SO the currency symbol affects JAWS ability to read these HTML
characters.
5. The semantic HTML characters for minus aren't well
supported. 

Next step is to provide results from Voice Over,
additionally am happy to include other test results if emailed
through.

Adam 

On 2013-08-21 18:46, Alastair Campbell wrote: 

>
Foliot, John wrote:
> 
>> Roughly a year ago I filed the following bug
at NVDA: http://community.nvda-project.org/ticket/2625 [1] - it was
subsequently fixed. Are you aware of any screen reader that is not
announcing the dash as a negative when combined with a numeral?
> 
>
This came up for me a few weeks ago, with default punctuation VoiceOver
doesn't announce dash or minus for a regular dash. It does if you set
punctuation to maximum. I asked on a VoiceOver list and few people do
that, or would know to change for a particular page (as discussed on
this thread). 
> 
> I hadn't come across &minus; before (thank you Adam
Zerner!), which seems to be the best candidate. It is read out as
'minus' by all the ones I've tested: 
> - VoiceOver (10.7 on Safari) 
>
- Jaws 14 / IE 10 
> - NVDA 2013.1.1 / FF 23 
> 
> &#8722; also worked
across those user agents, but I think &minus; is easier to remember! 
>

> It also looks like a regular minus, instead of a long dash. 
> 
>
I'll post my test page and results when I get home tonight. 
> 
>
Cheers, 
> 
> -Alastair
 

Links:
------
[1]
http://community.nvda-project.org/ticket/2625