Does HTML <i> Tag effect the screen reader, Beginner to HMTL Options

[ahnam]

Based on the following commend "The <i> tag defines a part of text in an alternate voice or mood"
does this means that the <i> tag effect the screen reader like <em> tag does?

If yes:

Does is effect HTML or something else in the background if you used <em> or <i> tag.

If not:

then <i> tag and <city> tag looks the same.
Does is effect HTML or something else in the background if you used <city> or <i> tag.

[pandy]

Not my forte, but this girl seems to know what she talks about.
https://support.siteimprove.com/hc/en-gb/ar...lic-vs-Emphasis

[Christian J]

Based on the following commend "The <i> tag defines a part of text in an alternate voice or mood"
does this means that the <i> tag effect the screen reader like <em> tag does?

I have no experience with screen readers, but I think the I element could/should make the voice change, but not in the exact same way as an EM element.

(Side-note: "tags" are the parts that start and end an element. For example, <i> is the start tag of the I element, and </i> its end tag.)

If yes:

Does is effect HTML or something else in the background if you used <em> or <i> tag.

If not:

then <i> tag and <city> tag looks the same.
Does is effect HTML or something else in the background if you used <city> or <i> tag.

I, EM and CITE use the same default styling (italicized text) in screen browsers, but their semantic meanings are different:

https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/text...l#the-i-element
https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/text...#the-em-element
https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/text...he-cite-element

Semantic meaning could make screen readers or search engine bots treat the content differently. If you just want some text to look italicized on screen for decoration (without any special semantic meaning) you could style an element with CSS:

CODE

div {font-style: italic;}

[ahnam]

Thanks you very much Pandy and Christian J. Your feedback is much appreciated.

[pandy]

I have no experience with screen readers, but I think the I element could/should make the voice change, but not in the exact same way as an EM element.

So think I, but according to the article I linked to most screen readers don't behave as we think they should.

[Darin McGrew]

So think I, but according to the article I linked to most screen readers don't behave as we think they should.

Simplicity counts for a lot. For example, older versions of braille didn't distinguish between boldface, italics, underline, etc. They were all indicated by the same braille symbol. The most recent version of braille (UEB) does distinguish between them, but at the expense of compactness.

For screen readers, keep in mind that many users have the speech cranked up faster than normal human speech, perhaps even twice as fast. Subtleties like different voices for different markup are lost. The point is usually to get through the content efficiently, not to dwell on every minor nuance.

Also, screen readers tend to be configurable. Many users keep it in a minimalist setting for efficiency sake, unless they really need to switch into a slower, more detailed/verbose setting.

[pandy]

That's interesting. I downloaded some screen reader or other many years ago when I was interested in this. I don't think it had many settings at all. But of course things have moved forward in this area too.

[Christian J]

For screen readers, keep in mind that many users have the speech cranked up faster than normal human speech, perhaps even twice as fast. Subtleties like different voices for different markup are lost. The point is usually to get through the content efficiently, not to dwell on every minor nuance.

Sounds like we're wasting our time applying semantic markup, if not even the screen reader users care.

[pandy]

Sounds like they care sometimes.

It doesn't matter really. I see it as a principle. If it's there it can be used by those that want or need to use it. The semantic bit, I mean. It's worse with the specific advice for for example the visually impaired. It changes and I can't keep up.