• Success Criterion 1.3.2
  • Conformance level A
  • W3C reference F32

Word Spelled Out Letter by Letter Instead of Read as a Word

1.3.2 — Meaningful Sequence

Scenario

Setting

A weather app's forecast screen

What’s wrong

Spaces are inserted between letters to space a word out visually (H E L L O). Screen readers then spell it letter by letter instead of reading the word.

Example 

<h2>T O D A Y ’ S   F O R E C A S T</h2>

Why it matters

A screen reader user hears the heading spelled out letter by letter instead of the words "Today's forecast," making it unintelligible by ear.

How to test

Copy suspect spaced-out text (H E L L O) and check with a screen reader: it will spell out each letter instead of reading the word — confirm real CSS letter-spacing isn't used instead.

How to fix

Use CSS letter-spacing to space out text visually; never insert literal spaces inside a word.

<h2 style="letter-spacing: 0.3em;">Today's Forecast</h2>

Outcome

Read aloud, "Today's forecast" now comes through as one clear phrase, not a string of spelled-out letters.

Who is affected

Screen reader users and voice-output tools that read words rather than individual characters cannot recognize the heading as real text.

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