Guides: D4D Accessibility Guide: Non-English Language HTML Tags

Overview

Added HTML tags for non-english language text

By default the HTML language setting for LibGuides is English. Screen readers will read out all the text with English pronunciation.

If you have content that is non-English, adding an HTML tag will tell the screen reader to switch to another language.
Use the Rich Text Editor > Source tool to edit the HTML. Details on editing HTML and finding the right language tag are in the resource links below.

Databases (as assets):

Currently, guide authors do not have the ability to change language tags for databases within Springshare. UX is working with them to troubleshoot. For now, if you have any non-English language text within a Rich Text box, use the resources on this page. More information on database accessibility can be found in this guide.

Resources:

NYU Digital Accessibility: Language
NYU Digital Accessibility article about adding language HTML tags to define the language of the website.
W3C Declaring Language in HTML
How should I set the language of the content in my HTML page?

LibGuide Help Center Resources:

Editing the HTML code in a Rich Text / HTML content item
In addition to using the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) functionality of the Rich Text Editor, you also have the ability to view and edit the underlying HTML code. This can be helpful for power-users who want to fine tune HTML attributes, add elements, or customize styles directly.

Examples

Add the following HTML tag to indicate that the website's language is in:

Arabic:
French:
Italian:

Please remember to close the tag, too. An example of what this would like like for text in French in the HTML editor is:

Bonjour, ça va bien?

Consult the IANA Language Subtag Registry to locate the tag for the language you need.

IANA Language Subtag Registry
List of language tags to modify the HTML.

Additional Resources

Choosing a Language Tag
Which language tag is right for me? How do I choose language and other subtags?
Language Accessibility from Penn State
The LANG tag (i.e. the lang="" attribute) is designed to signal screen readers pronunciation engines to switch to another language. For this reason and other, tagging Web text as being in a particular language is required in WCAG 2.0.