RE: Unicode characters used as images

I’d argue that ‘heavy multiplication cross’ doesn’t describe its purpose and that whether it is a glyph, image, ASCII art, monad, sign, symbol, badge, pill, signifier, icon, etc. is likely not relevant to anyone encountering it … 

 

I’d also argue that any announcement for generated content is substituted with text that actually describes the intended purpose of the item using an appropriate technique.

 

As a simple test, if the words ‘heavy multiplication cross’ was displayed, say, on hover in a title attribute or as a button label, pretty sure this would be removed post haste.

 

It’s like when developers omit punctuation or articles or make text alternatives for things grammatically incorrect because there’s a belief that’s how screen readers sound anyway so what’s the difference?

 

 

From: Léonie Watson <lwatson@tetralogical.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2024 6:38 PM
To: S <Starry_sky@live.com>; Ms J <ms.jflz.woop@gmail.com>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: Unicode characters used as images

 

It might be argued that "heavy multiplication X" is not the most user-friendly way to indicate that an item has been checked off a list, but I don't believe it fails any WCAG SC. The way Unicode characters are announced by screen readers is not always as useful as we might like, but they are announced and the names they're given are usually understandable if less than perfectly so.



On 05/02/2024 21:44, S wrote:

But that "heavy x" is not an image or ascii art and will not be interpreted that way regardless of the intent. And, it would be confusing to mark up text as if it was an image.  Suggestion is to use text "Y" and "N" as indicators for better cognitive recognition.  But if it has to appear as "x" for visual effect, then they should use an actual image with valid alt text so it is recognized accordingly.  

On 2/5/2024 7:53 AM, Ms J wrote:

Hello

 

If I had a shopping list and each item had a 'cross' next to it to indicate it was completed but the unicode 'heavy multiplication x' character was used for the cross, is this a failure of any sc?

 

They're basically using a text character like an image because they're using it for its physical characteristics, but they're not marking it up as an image (for example with an aria img role) and giving it an alt. It's read with JAWS as 'heavy multiplication x'. 

 

My thoughts are - could it fail name, role, value because it's used as an image but doesnt have that role?

Could it fail info and relationships because it coveys information visually but not programmatically? (But then thats like saying images with unclear alts should fail 1.3.1)

I don't think it fails sensory characteristics because there's no corresponding instructions that refer to it by its appearance 

 

Thanks

 

Sarah

 

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-- 
Léonie Watson (she/her)
Director
https://tetralogical.com