Category Archives: Content

“Content is king,” as far as the not so old web adage goes. Silly sayings aside, nothing rings more true than this one, frankly. And with every effort you pay a project, we all need to take better care to serve users, rather than hurt them. After all, users are every bit as important, if not more important than any bit of content you create.

Language is a curious beast, ain’t it?

I’ve spent some time over the past few months thinking about how I craft the content I publish for the web. Specifically regarding my use of language when writing. In one certain context — not to suggest my writing is free from more problems in others — it’s not as inclusive as it should be.

I’m referring to how a screen reader user experiences the words I write. And with my limited use of the technology, I’ve taken note of something quite specific. If you use a screen reader to speak my words, I’m not sure you, as a listener, will get all of the “subtleties” (case in point) of my intent.

Using the example I cited immediately above, precisely how is a screen reader user supposed to know I’ve put the word “subtleties” in quotation marks? Just typing quotation marks before and after the word isn’t enough to make a screen reader speak them. Read “Language is a curious beast, ain’t it?” in its entirety