The setting of my story is sci fi so a lot of characters have made up names, especially my alien characters. Do screen readers have problems with made up names and if yes, should I take that into consideration when naming characters? Would different made up names be easier or harder for screen readers to interpret than others?
Hi! This is a great question. It applies to a lot of books and online things, where screen-readers mispronounce names. You may be using a screen-reader to read something about a TV show, in which case you can change the way a screen-reader pronounces that name to fit what you heard in the source material.
However, this can be difficult if you don’t know how to name should be pronounced. I do think you can change the settings on a screen-reader so it will read letter by letter, which can help you figure out how to pronounce it, but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet myself.
One thing you could do is test the names out with a screen-reader. If you or someone you know has a smart phone, you can turn the VoiceOver on under accessibility. Type a list of the names in the phone’s notes and have the VoiceOver read them to you. Another option is to send the list to me and I could try typing out how my screen-reader pronounces the names.
I don’t think it’s something you can avoid with strategic names, because screen-readers can mispronounce any name.
Does anymore familiar with screen-readers and reading ebooks with it have any suggestions for OP?
