deilann v -0.2.1.  

for those ready for next year's class, the language setting for your toots actually matters for accessibility!

it's not just helpful for those of us an instances with a translation feature

see, my screenreader has a voice for both french and english because i read a lot of content in those two languages

so my screen reader attempts to read anything tagged as english with the english voice and anything tagged as french with the french voice

if things are tagged not as either, it informs me and doesn't attempt to butcher it!

but the synthesizers for French and English are ridiculous when swapped, worse than a bad stereotype movie accent - to the point that sometimes i can't understand the text at all

so yeah! try to make sure your language is tagged correctly. this is true in your web design as well and a huge thing i often see missed! if you have any level of multi-language text in an HTML file make sure that's tagged.

this is all!

#accessibility #a11y #AccessibilityTip

Nov 15, 2023 at 3:58pmWeb
Show threadCasey Reeves (it/its)Nov 15, 2023

@deilann I totally agree with this.

I'd just like to point out that unfortunately, a LOT of mastodon clients do not let you set the post language.

For example TweeseCake, which is the one I'm using, gained this only a few months ago. And even then there are still issues with this, mainly the fact that you can *post* in french, english, in a lot of language really. But you can't *reply* in anything but english. The option to set the language is just not there.

So, it is not just up to the people posting things to set the language appropriately. It is also up to the developers of clients like semaphore for example, to allow to set the post language in the first place.

Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 15, 2023

@xogium good info, thank you

Replies in general are odd, which @oldladyplays and I were testing

Show threadEmber? Nov 15, 2023

@deilann Only tangentially related: Oh God, you just reminded me of trying to get my car to play a specific French song the other day.

Hey Google, play eight secondees by less cowboys fring-ANTS

Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 15, 2023

@technicolourPenguin aaaa mon préféré groupe qui chantent en français

et je ne peux pas changer la langue

Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 15, 2023
@technicolourPenguin édité sur le web
Show threadJupiter RowlandNov 15, 2023
@deilann What about those who aren't on Mastodon? In the Fediverse, but not on Mastodon? Those who don't have a language setting for their posts at all? I, for example, don't.

I mean, you aren't following me. But I always keep those users in mind who may stumble upon any of my posts on the federated timeline of whatever instance they're on.
Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 17, 2023
@jupiter_rowland it will assume that your language matches the base language specified in the html which is usually the language of their interface
Show threadJupiter RowlandNov 18, 2023
@deilann That's rather inconvenient. In this case, screen readers might assume everyhing I write is actually in German.
Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 18, 2023

@jupiter_rowland

looking at your source code, you don't ever set a base language your html so it tries to read the german as english

Show threadJupiter RowlandNov 18, 2023
@deilann Well, I'm not running this instance. It's a public Hubzilla instance. So I have no influence on the HTML.
What is Hubzilla? - Join the Fediverse

Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  Nov 18, 2023

@jupiter_rowland

wasn't meaning it in a causal way, but in results way