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These types of formatting can cause accessibility barriers to people with print disabilities. We have to be careful when we retain this type of formatting.
When we do keep Bold or Italics we use the Styles in the NNELS template, and not direct formatting (via the toolbar).
Emphasis style
(italics) - this translates to the <em> tag in XMLStrong style
(bold) - translates to the <strong> tag in XMLIf we need to use strikethrough or underline, this will be one of the rare occasions when we use direct formatting.
Italicized text can create accessibility barriers for a lot of users who find it difficult to read. Blocks or paragraphs of italicized text are particularly problematic, and italics should be removed from these sorts of sections. In general, italics (or the <em> tag) should be removed unless they are used to convey important meaning, like if the text needs to be vocally stressed, or a change of voice, or tone like a thought, or dream sequence, or a similar divergence from the main narrative. Stage directions (in plays) are another case where we’d use the Emphasis Style. Whenever there is what they call a “semantic significance” behind the emphasis then it would usually be appropriate to retain it.
Remove Italics from:
Leave Italics in place when:
Example 1:
"I never said she stole my money."
"I never said she stole my money."
"I never said she stole my money."
and so on.
Example 2:
Emphasis and italics seem to be kinda confusing. Thought the Production Assistant. I am not sure if I should use them in the particular case. I am gonna email the Production Coordinator.
Example 3:
Stage direction example.
Exit, pursued by bear.
Blockquote (DAISY)
.
Remove bold from the text unless it conveys important meaning.
Bold text (or the <strong> tag) should only be used to indicate importance, such as when making imperative statements or using signal words like 'warning' and 'alert'.
Underlined text should be removed from the text unless deemed necessary. Underlines often present an accessibility barrier for users and people often confuse the text for links. If underlined text needs to be retained (e.g., in a poem where it conveys important meaning), use direct formatting.
If strikethrough text needs to be retained (e.g., in a poem where it conveys important meaning), use direct formatting.
Q: I am editing a poem that uses strikethrough in its original format. Can I recreate this format for the daisy version? Or should I highlight these lines and the format change in an inline producer's note?
A: Good question! In HTML5 we would simply mark the text with a <s>
tag; however in DTBook XML they don't have a tag for this. I'd suggest that, for now, we retain the strikethrough in Word (so no producer's note) and see how/if it translates to XML. It may use a <span> tag that links the text to a specific CSS style. We may have to manually edit the XML and create our own CSS style but I'm not sure yet…
WCAG 2.0 - H49: Using semantic markup to mark emphasized or special text