Proper Handling of Roman Numerals in Accessible Content

[gregoriopellegrino]

In many cases, Roman numerals are used as the sole identifier for chapters or sections of a book or other written work. For example, a chapter may be titled "IV" instead of "Chapter 4". However, this poses a challenge for users who rely on assistive technology to access digital content. Screen readers and other assistive devices may interpret "IV" as two separate letters ("I" and "V"), making it difficult for these users to understand the structure of the content.

One possible solution would be to use an aria-label or another accessible attribute to provide an alternative text description of the Roman numeral. For example, a chapter entitled "IV" could have an aria-label of "Chapter 4: Title of Chapter". This would allow assistive technology to correctly announce the number as "Chapter 4" while still preserving the Roman numeral as the visual identifier.

I would like to request guidance on the proper way to handle Roman numerals in accessible content, particularly when used as chapter or section titles. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[mattgarrish]

Roman numerals are problematic wherever they're used. This is one of the many cases for why we need better TTS pronunciation support, as using an alternative label for headings only addresses one specific case.

But given that a usable TTS support language is probably still years off, I guess documenting the use of labels for headings wouldn't hurt as an intermediary solution.

a chapter entitled "IV" could have an aria-label of "Chapter 4: Title of Chapter".

Not sure what you mean here by adding "Title of chapter". Did you mean the heading is also "IV Title of Chapter"? An accessible label shouldn't introduce information that isn't in the book as that puts an unrealistic expectation on the publisher/remediator to come up with a title that the author never produced. If the only heading is "IV" the label should be "Four". That it's the heading for a chapter will come from the role and heading tag applied.

[mattgarrish]

For the record, this only sounds like a helpful practice to suggest, not a requirement that anyone would have to do. Having roman numerals mispronounced, or the letters read out, by AT wouldn't fail content, as they pose the same issues for sighted readers (if you don't know your roman numerals, for example, what does coming across the string "mcmlxxv" in the text mean to you?). AT can spell out the string of characters if the user finds them confusing.

[gregoriopellegrino]

I agree. Maybe it can be included as a best-practice? Is using the abbr element inappropriate?

[mattgarrish]

Is using the abbr element inappropriate?

I wouldn't think so, yes. Roman numerals are more an alternative writing system for numbers; they're not abbreviations or initialisms that need expansion.

[gregoriopellegrino]

Here are some considerations about Roman numerals: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG2/supplemental/patterns/o3p06-format-punctuation/