{"id":675,"date":"2022-01-17T11:36:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T11:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/?p=675"},"modified":"2024-09-17T09:20:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T09:20:44","slug":"short-note-on-emoji-text-alternative-variations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/2022\/01\/17\/short-note-on-emoji-text-alternative-variations\/","title":{"rendered":"short note on emoji text alternative variations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-681\" src=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/expression-234x300.jpg\" alt=\"Beany with the Unicode 'expressionless face symbol' as worn by Doctor S, who is also wearing an expressionless flesh face.\" width=\"400\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/expression-234x300.jpg 234w, https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/expression.jpg 555w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Emojis<\/h2>\n<p>Emojis are derived from <a href=\"https:\/\/home.unicode.org\/\">Unicode symbols<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unicode symbols do not have inbuilt text alternatives. They are exposed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tpgi.com\/the-browser-accessibility-tree\/\">browser accessibility tree<\/a> as a text symbol:<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-678 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/hotdog.png\" alt=\"partial screenshot of table displaying Unicode symbols and the accessibility tree in Firefox The hot dog symbol is displayed in the page and in the accessibility tree as the Unicode symbol \ud83c\udf2d.\" width=\"504\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/hotdog.png 504w, https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/hotdog-300x115.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The text alternatives for Unicode symbols are usually contained within a text file in screen reading software&#8217;s program files directory. For example the JAWS 2021 file for (English language) descriptions of Unicode symbols on my machine is <em>C:\\ProgramData\\Freedom Scientific\\JAWS\\2021\\SETTINGS\\SymbolDescriptions\\SymbolDescriptions.enu.txt<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Note in SymbolDescriptions.enu.txt<\/h3>\n<blockquote><p>This file contains descriptions for characters\/symbols defined by the Unicode standard that are not already spoken by speech synthesizers.<br \/>\nThe descriptions specified in this document are for single, stand-alone symbols.<br \/>\nDescriptions for alphabetical, numeric, and basic punctuation symbols should not be included.<br \/>\nThese descriptions are processed as the very last step before a text string is sent to the speech synthesizer.<br \/>\nThey will override any other previous processing such as the JAWS dictionary or punctuation symbol processing.<br \/>\nNote: these descriptions are not synthesizer specific.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>People ask why emojis are presented as symbols in speech to text output rather than the text alternative. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-687 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Capture-1.png\" alt=\"Xxample of NVDA speech viewer output with a \ud83d\ude00 emoji displayed.\" width=\"319\" height=\"91\" srcset=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Capture-1.png 319w, https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Capture-1-300x86.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 319px) 100vw, 319px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This comment from the JAWS file may offer a clue:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>These descriptions are processed as the very last step before a text string is sent to the speech synthesizer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What can be inferred from this comment is that what we are presented with in a screen reader&#8217;s speech viewer is the output prior to the step where the text is processed and sent to the speech synthesizer.<\/p>\n<p>VoiceOver (iOS) acts the same way, it announces an emoji &#8220;grinning face with smiling eyes and sweat drop&#8221; but displays the symbol \ud83d\ude05 in its speech viewer:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-688 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/vo.png\" alt=\"Voice over speech viewer has an emoji in its text output.\" width=\"763\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/vo.png 763w, https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/vo-300x153.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 763px) 100vw, 763px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>differences<\/h2>\n<p>The following table has examples of some (of the many) emojis and how they are described in text by some popular screen readers. Note that there are differences in how they are described in some cases:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;grinning face&#8221; is also &#8220;beaming face&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;beaming face&#8221; is also a &#8220;smiling face&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;open mouth&#8221; is described by JAWS\/Narrator but not by NVDA\/VoiceOver<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;big eyes&#8221; are described by NVDA\/VoiceOver but not by JAWS\/Narrator<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;cold sweat&#8221; is &#8220;sweat&#8221; and also &#8220;sweat drop&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div role=\"group\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"overflow: auto;\" aria-label=\"Examples of screen reader text descriptions for emoji\">\n<table border=\"1\">\n<caption>Examples of screen reader text descriptions for emoji<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Symbol<\/th>\n<th>JAWS\/Narrator announces<\/th>\n<th>NVDA announces<\/th>\n<th>VoiceOver announces<\/th>\n<th>Unicode number<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude00<\/td>\n<td>grinning face<\/td>\n<td>grinning face<\/td>\n<td>grinning face<\/td>\n<td>u+1F600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude01<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>beaming face with smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>beaming face with smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>u+1F601<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude02<\/td>\n<td>face with tears of joy<\/td>\n<td>face with tears of joy<\/td>\n<td>face with tears of joy<\/td>\n<td>u+1F602<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude03<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with open mouth<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with big eyes<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with big eyes<\/td>\n<td>u+1F603<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude04<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with open mouth and smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with smiling eyes<\/td>\n<td>u+1F604<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude05<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with open mouth and cold sweat<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with sweat<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with smiling eyes and sweat drop<\/td>\n<td>u+1F605<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"32\">\ud83d\ude06<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with open mouth and tightly closed eyes<\/td>\n<td>grinning squinting face<\/td>\n<td>grinning face with squinting eyes<\/td>\n<td>u+1F606<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude07<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with halo<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with halo<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with halo<\/td>\n<td>u+1F607<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude08<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with horns<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with horns<\/td>\n<td>smiling face with horns<\/td>\n<td>u+1F608<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\ud83d\ude09<\/td>\n<td>winking face<\/td>\n<td>winking face<\/td>\n<td>winking face<\/td>\n<td>u+1F609<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Do the differences matter?<\/h3>\n<p>The differences don&#8217;t matter to me (but I am just one and not the intended consumer), as I usually experience just the symbol. Reading the text descriptions is useful though as quite often I have no idea what the symbols are meant to represent. It is also true that emoji&#8217;s take on different meanings in different contexts and to different people. For example I thought \ud83e\udd19 meant &#8220;no worries&#8221; but its description is &#8220;call me hand&#8221;, what do I know \ud83e\udd37<\/p>\n<h2>further reading<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stevefaulkner.github.io\/symbols\/SymbolsJAWS.html\">Symbol text descriptions in JAWS<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stevefaulkner.github.io\/symbols\/SymbolsNVDA.html\">Symbol text descriptions in NVDA<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XHMqEsXp96M\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<details open=\"\">\n<summary>Lyrics &#8211; Tweet tweet tweet &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sleafordmods\">Sleaford Mods<\/a><\/summary>\n<pre>I get a shaky start to Tuesday\r\nSweat stains on bus windows\r\nI don't want ruin my coat but\r\nThat's just the way it goes\r\n\"Cheer up you fuckin' bastard!\"\r\nThat's all I heard him say\r\nSt George's flag on white van\r\nThis is the human race\r\nThis is the human race\r\nUKIP and your disgrace\r\nChopped heads on London streets\r\nAll you zombies tweet, tweet, tweet\r\nThese wheels are turning tricks\r\nThis bus is full of pricks\r\n8 hours of Gedling Council fuck your life\r\nIt's spare room hassle\r\nDead weight is living flesh\r\nWe are no longer spesh\r\nThese grips that pull my hair\r\nA life not lived 'cause I don't care\r\nThis is the human race\r\nUKIP and your disgrace\r\nChopped heads on London streets\r\nAll you zombies tweet, tweet, tweet\r\nWell I just bit half a mine\r\nThrow myself on the Metroline\r\nWe 'ad to walk back from the train\r\nWith the Stella kicking in my brain\r\nWell I just bit half a mine\r\nThrow myself on the Metroline\r\nWhen I walk back from the train\r\nWith the Stella kicking in my brain\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/details>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emojis Emojis are derived from Unicode symbols Unicode symbols do not have inbuilt text alternatives. They are exposed in the browser accessibility tree as a text symbol: The text alternatives for Unicode symbols are usually contained within a text file in screen reading software&#8217;s program files directory. For example the JAWS 2021 file for (English [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-htmlaccessibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1341,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/1341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/html5accessibility.com\/stuff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}