Which one do you prefer? - Page 4

icearch · 01-01-2026, 06:39 PM

I do think too much specific meaning can cause harm to the narration flow. "Overdone is worse than underdone."

JSWolf · 01-01-2026, 06:46 PM

I've taken the Nancy Drew book from StandardEBooks and edited it. I made as little changes as possible to make it work in the old version of RMSDK and still be ePub 3. Can someone have a look and see what you think of the code? I've not made many changes to get it to work.

icearch · 01-01-2026, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

If you don't mind a listener hearing "Quote" before any indented sentence, letter, banner, etc. then you could use a blockquote;

Do reading screen/TTS function really say "quote" out loud when encountering blockquote tag?

Turtle91 · 01-01-2026, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icearch

Do reading screen/TTS function really say "quote" out loud when encountering blockquote tag?

In the spoiler section of post #22, of this thread, is this section:

Quote:

Screen Reader Compatibility
Different screen readers handle block quotes in various ways:
NVDA and JAWS: These screen readers announce the blockquote tag, providing context to users.
VoiceOver, Narrator, Orca, and TalkBack: These may not announce the blockquote tag, which can lead to a lack of context for users.

[emphasis added]

I assume "announce the blockquote tag" meant saying "Quote".

ElMiko · 01-02-2026, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I imagine the way to differentiate is to ask yourself what it would sound like if you were listening to an assistive technology reading the passage aloud. Some of them will actually say the word "Quote" aloud before they start reading anything in a blockquote to give the listener context.

If you don't mind a listener hearing "Quote" before any indented sentence, letter, banner, etc. then you could use a blockquote; otherwise a div would be more appropriate. Especially since you can make a div look exactly how you want - not just relying on a blockquote's visual default.

I also bow to Kevin's greater familiarity with section tags/aria labeling in ePub3!

Hmm. I mean, to your earlier point, you can make a blockquote look any way you want, too!

Your point about "QUOTE, blah blah blah" is well-taken. Although in the absence of KevinH's section tags (which I suppose i should read up on), I would tend to lean toward the imprecise context of the <blockquote> rather than the absence of any context in a <div>. I think part of the the problem is that I have yet to find text to speech programs that do a consistent job with any of these accesibility features (e.g. <em> and alt text).

RbnJrg · 01-02-2026, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've taken the Nancy Drew book from StandardEBooks and edited it. I made as little changes as possible to make it work in the old version of RMSDK and still be ePub 3. Can someone have a look and see what you think of the code? I've not made many changes to get it to work.

I opened the epub you posted in Sigil and there are some errors. But apart from that, I would change the code to handle the cover and titlepage. For the title image (titlepage.xhtml), I would use an SVG wrapper, which is well supported by ADE Legacy and allows the image to be centered and maintain its proportions. For example, I would use the following code:

Code:

<body>
  <section id="titlepage" epub:type="titlepage">
    <div class="center">

      <svg class="epub-type-contains-word-se-image-color-depth-black-on-transparent" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="100%" width="100%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 100 698 364" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><image width="698" height="364" xlink:href="../images/titlepage.png"/></svg>
    </div>
  </section>

and

Code:

svg.epub-type-contains-word-se-image-color-depth-black-on-transparent {
  background: #fff !important;
/* !important` is required to make sure readers respect the BG color */
  height: 95%; /* This is for ADE */
  height: 95vh; /* This is for epub3 and is ignored by ADE */
}

In Sigil with the above code, the title page looks as:

Click image for larger version

Name: One1.jpg
Views: 10
Size: 428.0 KB
ID: 220032

and with the original code, the title page looks as:

Click image for larger version

Name: One2.jpg
Views: 8
Size: 435.5 KB
ID: 220033

The advantage of using an SVG wrapper is obvious. Of course, it's your decision whether to adopt it or not.

icearch · 01-02-2026, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElMiko

I would tend to lean toward the imprecise context of the <blockquote> rather than the absence of any context in a <div>. I think part of the the problem is that I have yet to find text to speech programs that do a consistent job with any of these accesibility features (e.g. <em> and alt text).

I don't think it is good practical to blindly choosing more specific tags over more general one. It all depends on the very contents it's tagging. Sometimes less is more.

Actually, way too much explanation can ruin reading ( or hearing of course) experience, disabled people are disabled not dumb, and the original text can have enough information for them to judge.

ElMiko · 01-02-2026, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icearch

I don't think it is good practical to blindly choosing more specific tags over more general one. It all depends on the very contents it's tagging.

I agree; I wasn't trying to amke a general statement about blockquotes versus divs. My comment was in the context of the edge of cases like signage, correspondence and original verse where technically they are not bloquotes, but a blockquote more closesly approximates (and delineates) their context than a div that doesn't have any accesibility flags.

I certainly wasn't implying that disabled people are stupid. I'm sure they could generally figure these things out without the use of blockquote tags at all (or ems). The questions is does the use of those tags make it easier to figure it out...

icearch · 01-03-2026, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElMiko

The questions is does the use of those tags make it easier to figure it out...

I'm not implying you discriminating disabled people, sorry for my bad wording.

But that's exactly what I said in the second paragraph, as previously said by Turtle91, tts/read screen DOES read "quote" out loud every single time it encountering blockquote tag ( at least in default setting), so it's obvious that any normal intellectualled person will be annoyed by overdosed hints. It's simply not needed.

For more details, I think the situation listed down below does not need to be accessibility buffed. ( not every situation of course, just what I can think of now.)

1. When the phrase is famous that everyone knows who said it.

2. The phrase already deeply infused in the human culture/the listener's culture, it just doesn't matter who and when it was said.

3. When the text already says " XXX said...... ".

4. When someone is saying something with so much emotion/passion, adding "quote" kills the vibe and ruins the big moment.

5. Posters/flyers and such short content. If it's really ambiguous, I think you can add title or something to let tts identify it.

And I think you can add tags or attributes to let div content do accessibility things. You can always layer more general tags.

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01-01-2026, 06:39 PM	#46
icearch Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2025 Device: none	I do think too much specific meaning can cause harm to the narration flow. "Overdone is worse than underdone."