hide a pseudo-element from a screenreader? - css

Question

I am using :before pseudo-elements bound to particular classes to add symbols in front of p tags, with CSS like this:
td > p.markerclass1:before {
position: absolute;
left: -1rem;
content: '*';
}
I am using this in a Wordpress theme where the user can select that class for a p tag in the editor, in order to to put that symbol to the left of the current paragraph.
However, the website should be accessible, and the screenreader (at least NVDA, with which I am testing this) is reading that pseudo element and the included symbol, which I don't want. But since this element is not in the HTML code, I cannot add aria-hidden = 'true' to hide it from screenreaders.
Any idea what i could do to get the screenreader to ignore those pseudo-elements?

Answer 1

Know this is old, but recently had to answer this too and eventually found a better answer to this question
pseudo-elements; alternative text can be indicated after a /:
td > p.markerclass1:before {
position: absolute;
left: -1rem;
content: "*";
content: "*" / "";
}
In this case the blank alt text will cause this content to be ignored.
Note not all browsers support this syntax (basically just Chromium based browsers at this time of writing) so make sure you add a fallback first that works for all browsers and is only overridden by those that support this new syntax as well. Otherwise, without this fallback, browsers like Safari just ignore the unrecognised CSS line and fail to display anything when you use an / for alt text!

Answer 2

You can try using the speak property:
CSS:
td > p.markerclass1:before {
position: absolute;
left: -1rem;
content: '*';
speak: none;
}

Answer 3

Pseudo-element inheritates from the main class their visibility for screen and screenreaders.
For instance, the following code will hide everything including the *
p:before {content:'*'}
p {display:none}
If you want the content of the pseudo element not to be read, you have to use an unprounounceable replacement like an UTF-8 equivalent :
td > p.markerclass1:before {
position: absolute;
left: -1rem;
content: "\2022";
}
EDIT: \2022 announces "bullet" with NVDA while another code like \2023 for instance announces nothing

Answer 4

The scenario was "Send Mail" link associated with "Click Here To" text, but Screen Reader reads the whole text, but i want it to read only "Send mail".
Here i have solved that issue using "aria-label" attribute.
a
{
text-decoration:none;
}
a::before
{
content:"Click here to - ";
color:Black;
font-weight:bold;
}
Send Mail
Hope this will work for you guys.