special-characters

Avoid using special characters (glyphs) or emojis within controls names

Description

Emoji and other glyph characters vary slightly between platforms within the Unicode specification. This may lead to inconsistency in how they are read and in some cases, even in their definition. In addition, there is an inherent ambiguity in the meaning of some emojis which may lead to misinterpretation of the purpose of controls. Even though there is no explicit prevention to use special characters in control names, it is best practice to do so sparingly.

Quick Fixes

• Use emojis and glyphs in controls names only when it is essential for understanding their meaning.
• When using special characters in controls names ensure to provide an alternative accessible name that will be clear for screen reader users and will allow voice control users to trigger actions easily.

How Users Are Affected

Content might not be clear and consistent for screen reader users. Voice control users may have difficulty activating controls whose name is based on special characters.

WCAG Success criteria

N/A