• muhyb@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    1 day ago

    Well, that’s the reason why I didn’t write it like that. I wanted it to look like a dash, just like in novels.

    • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      By the way, Markdown also takes escape \, which is why sometimes the shrugging emoticon is missing left arm.

      - So this
      - also works with space

      So you don’t even necessarily have to leave out the space.

      • muhyb@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 day ago

        Apparently there is already a separate symbol for speech dash, which is —. However its keyboard shortcut is obscure and I couldn’t remember it later, but Markdown already covered this it seems. Writing --- renders as —, which I’ll do from now on, if I don’t forget about it next time.

        • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          18
          ·
          1 day ago

          Good question: for basic accessibility, structure should be conveyed, which adds

          when technologies support programmatic relationships, it is strongly encouraged that information and relationships be programmatically determined

          The web supports programmatic relationships through correct markup, so the technique using semantic elements to mark up structure applies, specifically by using ol, ul and dl for lists or groups of links or the markdown equivalent.

          If you want to experience this yourself, then put on a blindfold, use a screenreader & compare your “list” to mine.

          • ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 day ago

            It doesn’t look like a list to me, but a riddle.

            Would putting a Q: and A: in front of them satisfy you or would that send you off on a different tangent of chastising web users on their formatting?

            Maybe instead of people needing to apply exacting rules to accommodate an accessibility tech, the tech should get better at interpreting human tendencies of writing. Even today I can write in a non-structured natural language form and a decent chat bot can typically make a reasonable interpretation of it without help.

            • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              16 hours ago

              It doesn’t look like a list to me

              Then the - weren’t needed.

              Maybe instead of people needing to apply exacting rules to accommodate an accessibility tech

              1. Nah, writing a space the conventional way suffices: - SPACE list item. Even aesthetically, the plain text looks atrocious without a space there & worse when rendered.
              2. The technology is fine, there was even a button in the toolbar. It’s not that hard to figure out to anyone trying: there’s a preview button & they can edit.

              All anyone has to do is (1) follow regular convention or (2) use the technology. Getting this wrong despite the technology & standard convention is less a technology problem & more a user problem.

              Edit: I understand what you both meant now: quotation dashes. They’re less common in English, but still correct! Edited my comment above to reflect this. Thanks.

          • muhyb@programming.dev
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 day ago

            I don’t have a screen reader installed so I cannot try it but I can guess how it can screw with it. However I agree with Monkey With A Shell here. It’s not realistic for all users to follow semantics, this can only be solved with a better software.

            While I use markdown daily, apparently there are still things I don’t know about it. Well, I mostly learn them when I need them but still. So, I could use (speech dash) instead of -, which I assume wouldn’t cause a problem with a screen reader. There is no way for me to remember its shortcut on the keyboard, but it seems Markdown already covered this with --- which ends up rendered as .

            Thanks for making me noticing about it, learned something new today.

            • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              7
              ·
              edit-2
              22 hours ago

              It’s not realistic for all users to follow semantics

              Not realistic for users to write lists the normal way that doesn’t look wrong? I don’t know guys

              -first
              
              -second
              
              -third
              

              looks obviously bad whereas

              - first
              - second
              - third
              

              looks right. Then you see the rendered result in preview. You also had a button in the toolbar to create a list.

              I don’t think this is asking much.

              If you weren’t trying to write a list, though, then I don’t know what you were doing & I doubt a chat bot will either: could you link to an example of what you were trying to do? For all you know, I’m a chat bot not figuring out your intent. No technology is about to fix PEBKAC.

              I think the bottom line is if you write lists normally, then everything else including accessibility will turn out right without you needing to understand the intricacies.

              • muhyb@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                22 hours ago

                I definitely wasn’t trying to write a list, it was a riddle or a conversation. What I was trying to do is this:

                Though, it seems speech dash is not a thing in English. So I understand the confusion.

                • Canadian_Cabinet @lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  20 hours ago

                  Yeah its not a thing in English. In Spanish it is as well and learning to read novels in English was a bit confusing at first. I believe the official name is en dash or em dash I forget which

                  • muhyb@programming.dev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    8 hours ago

                    Didn’t really notice until now, though it seems some English speaking people used these dashes in their books apparently but I don’t think I ever read one of them. It’s hilarious to see these cultural differences may cause problems like this. :)

                  • muhyb@programming.dev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    20 hours ago

                    No worries. I tried to look on my English novels first but couldn’t find anything like this. I was almost certain that I saw this in one of the Roald Dahls but nope. Well, learned the official name of it too, quotation dash. Thanks.

                    By the way, Meta (Windows key) + . opens emoji list in KDE.