Please 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 eat the shrimp scampi in the fridge. It is tasty 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢.
(This is an example I am using to make a recording of how it’s announced by some screen readers. I will eventually reply with those videos.)
Please 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 eat the shrimp scampi in the fridge. It is tasty 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢.
(This is an example I am using to make a recording of how it’s announced by some screen readers. I will eventually reply with those videos.)
Those two videos account for ~78% of primary screen reader use (https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey10/#primary) so I’m stopping there for today.
Anyway, this is not new information: https://adrianroselli.com/2018/01/improving-your-tweet-accessibility.html#Unicode
And please don’t reflexively blame screen readers:
https://adrianroselli.com/2021/10/blaming-screen-readers-red-flag.html
NVDA 2024.4.2 / Firefox 135.
Doesn’t announce the fake bold nor fake italic.
JAWS 2025 / Chrome 133.
Announces each fake bold and fake italic letter individually, including its case and style.
Narrator / Windows 11 24H2 / Edge 133.
Doesn’t announce the fake bold nor fake italic.
I’m using default settings. Some users will have different settings, but understand screen reader users have the same range of skill & experience with their kit as everyone else has with their own kit.
Try with your built-in screen reader. Resources: https://adrianroselli.com/2022/11/your-accessibility-claims-are-wrong-unless.html#SRs (anchor link)
VoiceOver / macOS 15.3.1 / Safari 18.3.
Doesn’t announce the fake bold nor fake italic.
TalkBack 15.2 / Chrome 133.
Announces the fake bold and fake italic as if it is regular text. TalkBack started doing this in 2021.
I’ve shared 6 screen reader experiences.
The takeaway should be DO NOT use sites like YayText•com to make fake bold or italic text (whether on Bluesky, LinkedIn, etc.).
If you’re a tester, you may see the speech logs show the characters. These are lies: https://adrianroselli.com/2020/08/speech-viewer-logs-of-lies.html
Now…
VoiceOver / iPadOS 18.3.1 / Safari
Doesn’t announce the fake bold nor fake italic.
I made the thread into a post so you can share it with your social media manager or your mom or whatever:
“Don’t Use Fake Bold or Italic in Social Media”
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/03/dont-use-fake-bold-or-italic-in-social-media.html
Imagine your local government sends this:
𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔: 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆. Updates to come in the next hour. Stay calm.
Now imagine the impact on screen reader users.
End of thread.
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