---
title: "You Know What? Just Don’t Split Words into Letters"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/you-know-what-just-don-t-split-words-into-letters-wtadji3u3
source_url: https://adrianroselli.com/2026/02/you-know-what-just-dont-split-words-into-letters.html
type: article
source: "Adrian Roselli"
published: 2026-02-05T17:48:30.653Z
updated: 2026-02-05T17:49:00.372Z
tags: ["html", "accessibility"]
reading_time: 6
upvotes: 3
comments: 0
language: en
---

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# You Know What? Just Don’t Split Words into Letters

**[Adrian Roselli](https://daily.dev/sources/adrianroselli)** · 6 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

GSAP's SplitText plugin claims screen reader support but fails across most screen reader/browser combinations. Splitting words into individual letters wrapped in HTML elements creates accessibility barriers, even when using aria-label and aria-hidden. Testing across NVDA, JAWS, Narrator, VoiceOver, Orca, and TalkBack reveals only NVDA/Firefox and TalkBack/Chrome work correctly. The generic role on divs prohibits aria-label, and even when used on valid elements, aria-label doesn't translate and can violate WCAG Label in Name requirements. Developers should avoid splitting text into letters for animations or styling effects.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://adrianroselli.com/2026/02/you-know-what-just-dont-split-words-into-letters.html>

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---

Tags: [#html](https://daily.dev/tags/html), [#accessibility](https://daily.dev/tags/accessibility)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/you-know-what-just-don-t-split-words-into-letters-wtadji3u3)