Accessibility

StylishText aims to be usable with a keyboard alone and with a screen reader, and this page is honest about where the site’s own subject matter — decorative Unicode text — works against that goal.

What we build in

The site itself uses semantic HTML headings, a “skip to content” link for keyboard users, labelled form controls on the text tool, and visible focus states. Every Copy button announces success or failure to screen-reader users through a live status region rather than relying on a visual-only change.

Stylish Unicode text is not reliably screen-reader friendly

This is the one place our own content works against general accessibility, and we say so plainly: letters from the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block (used for bold, italic, double-struck and similar styles) are not treated as the letters they visually resemble by most screen readers. Depending on the screen reader and font, a styled word can be read out letter-by-letter, read using odd phonetic names, or skipped entirely. Small Caps, Superscript and the enclosed-letter styles are built from characters meant for general use and tend to fare somewhat better, but still are not guaranteed to read naturally.

Our guidance: use styled text for names, bios and captions you are decorating for yourself — never for body copy, instructions, or anything you need every reader, including screen-reader users, to understand.

Reporting a barrier

If you use assistive technology and find something on this site that does not work for you, email [email protected] with the page and the assistive technology/browser combination you were using.