From 83208227feee58630f0a9a306bacdff66b47b760 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: commiekong <30882689+dfsm@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:11:02 +1000
Subject: [PATCH] Hide Post Metadata from Screen Reader: New setting that adds
 aria-hidden to usernames, join dates, post actions, posted dates. Thread
 title, post contents, quotes are all read aloudwhile additional elements are
 dropped. Two-finger pull from top brings up Screen Reader. Will also apply to
 Voiceover if the setting is enabled, but Voiceover remains unaffected
 otherwise.

Requested: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=1&threadid=3837546&pagenumber=216&perpage=40&highlight=swipe,down#post548636993
---
 App/Resources/RenderView.js                     | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 App/Templates/Post.html.stencil                 |  3 ++-
 .../Posts/PostRenderModel.swift                 |  8 +++++++-
 .../Posts/PostsPageViewController.swift         |  7 +++++++
 App/Views/RenderView.swift                      | 11 +++++++++++
 .../Sources/AwfulSettings/Settings.swift        |  3 +++
 .../AwfulSettingsUI/Localizable.xcstrings       |  8 +++++++-
 .../Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/SettingsView.swift  |  5 +++++
 8 files changed, 59 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/App/Resources/RenderView.js b/App/Resources/RenderView.js
index be9baec7f..e5773ccf8 100644
--- a/App/Resources/RenderView.js
+++ b/App/Resources/RenderView.js
@@ -1611,6 +1611,23 @@ Awful.setShowAvatars = function(showAvatars) {
 };
 
 
+/**
+ Toggles aria-hidden on post metadata so iOS Spoken Content / VoiceOver skips usernames, regdates, and post dates.
+
+ @param {boolean} hide - `true` to mark the post header and post date as aria-hidden, `false` to restore them.
+ */
+Awful.setHidePostMetadataForReader = function(hide) {
+  var els = document.querySelectorAll('post > header, post > footer');
+  Array.prototype.forEach.call(els, function(el) {
+    if (hide) {
+      el.setAttribute('aria-hidden', 'true');
+    } else {
+      el.removeAttribute('aria-hidden');
+    }
+  });
+};
+
+
 /**
  Updates the stylesheet for the currently-selected theme.
 
diff --git a/App/Templates/Post.html.stencil b/App/Templates/Post.html.stencil
index 2c41feb82..bfe40a3db 100644
--- a/App/Templates/Post.html.stencil
+++ b/App/Templates/Post.html.stencil
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
     <header
         class="userid-{{ author.userID|htmlEscape }} {% if customTitleHTML %} responsive {% endif %}"
+        {% if hideMetadataForReader %} aria-hidden="true" {% endif %}
         {% if hiddenAvatarURL %} data-awful-avatar="{{ hiddenAvatarURL|htmlEscape }}" {% endif %}>
 
         {% if visibleAvatarURL and not customTitleHTML %}
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@
         {{ htmlContents }}
     </section>
 
-	<footer>
+	<footer {% if hideMetadataForReader %} aria-hidden="true" {% endif %}>
         <span class="divider{% if beenSeen %} divider-seen {% endif %}"></span>
         <span class="postdate">
             {% if postDateRaw %}
diff --git a/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostRenderModel.swift b/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostRenderModel.swift
index 75ee39120..ba700a2b8 100644
--- a/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostRenderModel.swift	
+++ b/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostRenderModel.swift	
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ struct PostRenderModel: StencilContextConvertible {
             "beenSeen": post.beenSeen,
             "customTitleHTML": (enableCustomTitlePostLayout ? post.author?.customTitleHTML : nil) as Any,
             "hiddenAvatarURL": hiddenAvatarURL as Any,
+            "hideMetadataForReader": hidePostMetadataForReader,
             "htmlContents": htmlContents,
             "postDate": post.postDate as Any,
             "postDateRaw": postDateRaw as String,
@@ -77,7 +78,7 @@ struct PostRenderModel: StencilContextConvertible {
             "showRegdate": showRegdate,
             "visibleAvatarURL": visibleAvatarURL as Any]
     }
-    
+
     init(author: User, isOP: Bool, postDate: String, postHTML: String) {
         context = [
             "author": [
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ struct PostRenderModel: StencilContextConvertible {
                 "username": author.username as Any],
             "beenSeen": false,
             "hiddenAvatarURL": (showAvatars ? author.avatarURL : nil) as Any,
+            "hideMetadataForReader": hidePostMetadataForReader,
             "customTitleHTML": (enableCustomTitlePostLayout ? author.customTitleHTML : nil) as Any,
             "htmlContents": massageHTML(postHTML, isIgnored: false, forumID: ""),
             "postDate": postDate,
@@ -126,6 +128,10 @@ private var showAvatars: Bool {
     UserDefaults.standard.defaultingValue(for: Settings.showAvatars)
 }
 
+private var hidePostMetadataForReader: Bool {
+    UserDefaults.standard.defaultingValue(for: Settings.hidePostMetadataForReader)
+}
+
 private var enableCustomTitlePostLayout: Bool {
     switch UIDevice.current.userInterfaceIdiom {
     case .mac, .pad:
diff --git a/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostsPageViewController.swift b/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostsPageViewController.swift
index 9ba3af092..4fe19e087 100644
--- a/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostsPageViewController.swift	
+++ b/App/View Controllers/Posts/PostsPageViewController.swift	
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ final class PostsPageViewController: ViewController {
     @FoilDefaultStorage(Settings.fontScale) private var fontScale
     @FoilDefaultStorage(Settings.frogAndGhostEnabled) private var frogAndGhostEnabled
     @FoilDefaultStorage(Settings.handoffEnabled) private var handoffEnabled
+    @FoilDefaultStorage(Settings.hidePostMetadataForReader) private var hidePostMetadataForReader
     private var jumpToLastPost = false
     @FoilDefaultStorageOptional(Settings.lastOfferedPasteboardURLString) private var lastOfferedPasteboardURLString
     @FoilDefaultStorageOptional(Settings.userID) private var loggedInUserID
@@ -1900,6 +1901,12 @@ final class PostsPageViewController: ViewController {
             }
             .store(in: &cancellables)
 
+        $hidePostMetadataForReader
+            .dropFirst()
+            .receive(on: RunLoop.main)
+            .sink { [weak self] in self?.postsView.renderView.setHidePostMetadataForReader($0) }
+            .store(in: &cancellables)
+
         $pullForNext
             .receive(on: RunLoop.main)
             .sink { [weak self] _ in self?.updateUserInterface() }
diff --git a/App/Views/RenderView.swift b/App/Views/RenderView.swift
index 2c4bdec85..4274ad692 100644
--- a/App/Views/RenderView.swift
+++ b/App/Views/RenderView.swift
@@ -800,6 +800,17 @@ extension RenderView {
         }
     }
     
+    /// Marks (when `true`) or unmarks (when `false`) post header and footer with `aria-hidden="true"` so iOS Spoken Content / VoiceOver skip them.
+    func setHidePostMetadataForReader(_ hide: Bool) {
+        Task {
+            do {
+                try await webView.eval("if (window.Awful) Awful.setHidePostMetadataForReader(\(hide ? "true" : "false"))")
+            } catch {
+                self.mentionError(error, explanation: "could not evaluate setHidePostMetadataForReader")
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Turns all avatars on (when `true`) or off (when `false`).
     func setShowAvatars(_ showAvatars: Bool) {
         Task {
diff --git a/AwfulSettings/Sources/AwfulSettings/Settings.swift b/AwfulSettings/Sources/AwfulSettings/Settings.swift
index 3183e80cf..bca43a615 100644
--- a/AwfulSettings/Sources/AwfulSettings/Settings.swift
+++ b/AwfulSettings/Sources/AwfulSettings/Settings.swift
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ public enum Settings {
     /// Offer to hand off the current thread page to other devices.
     public static let handoffEnabled = Setting(key: "handoff_enabled", default: false)
 
+    /// Mark post header (username, regdate, role labels) and post date as `aria-hidden` so iOS Spoken Content / VoiceOver skip them and read post bodies more directly.
+    public static let hidePostMetadataForReader = Setting(key: "hide_post_metadata_for_reader", default: false)
+
     /// Hide the sidebar in landscape orientation (assuming the display is wide enough to show the sidebar at all).
     public static let hideSidebarInLandscape = Setting(key: "hide_sidebar_in_landscape", default: false)
 
diff --git a/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/Localizable.xcstrings b/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/Localizable.xcstrings
index 980113cdc..84dc60a62 100644
--- a/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/Localizable.xcstrings
+++ b/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/Localizable.xcstrings
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@
     },
     "Handoff allows you to continue reading threads on nearby devices." : {
 
+    },
+    "Hide Post Metadata from Screen Reader" : {
+
     },
     "Hide Sidebar in Landscape" : {
 
@@ -180,6 +183,9 @@
     },
     "Sidebar" : {
 
+    },
+    "Skips usernames, post dates, and join dates when iOS reads posts aloud (Speak Screen and VoiceOver)." : {
+
     },
     "Sort Unread Bookmarks First" : {
 
@@ -207,4 +213,4 @@
     }
   },
   "version" : "1.0"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/SettingsView.swift b/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/SettingsView.swift
index 193b3e339..6fefb48a2 100644
--- a/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/SettingsView.swift
+++ b/AwfulSettingsUI/Sources/AwfulSettingsUI/SettingsView.swift
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ public struct SettingsView: View {
     @AppStorage(Settings.fontScale) private var fontScale
     @AppStorage(Settings.frogAndGhostEnabled) private var frogAndGhostEnabled
     @AppStorage(Settings.handoffEnabled) private var handoffEnabled
+    @AppStorage(Settings.hidePostMetadataForReader) private var hidePostMetadataForReader
     @AppStorage(Settings.hideSidebarInLandscape) private var hideSidebarInLandscape
     @AppStorage(Settings.immersiveModeEnabled) private var immersiveModeEnabled
     @AppStorage(Settings.loadImages) private var loadImages
@@ -157,9 +158,13 @@ public struct SettingsView: View {
                 if isPad {
                     Toggle("Enable Custom Title Post Layout", bundle: .module, isOn: $customTitlePostLayout)
                 }
+                Toggle("Hide Post Metadata from Screen Reader", bundle: .module, isOn: $hidePostMetadataForReader)
             } header: {
                 Text("Posts", bundle: .module)
                     .header()
+            } footer: {
+                Text("Skips usernames, post dates, and join dates when iOS reads posts aloud (Speak Screen and VoiceOver).", bundle: .module)
+                    .footer()
             }
             .section()