Accessible Macrons

Does your font actually support te reo Māori — or is it quietly erasing it? 

You might not notice at first. The design looks clean, the branding feels right, the layout sings. But then the first word with a macron appears. Or rather, it doesn’t. The ā, ē, ī, ō, ū your te reo content relies on are missing, replaced with broken glyphs, awkward workarounds, or most damaging of all, unmarked vowels that change the sound and meaning of the kupu entirely. 

Suddenly, your typography isn’t just a design flaw. It’s a barrier to language, identity and understanding. 

Macrons Aren’t Optional — They’re Essential 

Te reo Māori deserves to be represented with accuracy, dignity and care. That starts with macrons. They’re not decorative, they change pronunciation and meaning. “Maori” and “Māori” don’t sound the same, don’t mean the same, and don’t carry the same respect. 

A missing macron can turn a familiar word into something unrecognisable — for readers and for screen readers. Assistive technologies pronounce words as they appear, so omitting macrons isn’t just a writing issue; it directly affects how te reo Māori is spoken aloud in digital spaces. For many users, that’s the difference between clarity and confusion. 

The Technical Aspect Designers Often Overlook 

You can choose a beautiful font, but if it doesn’t include macron support, it’s the wrong font. Many typefaces fail this basic test. Some display macrons inconsistently, misalign them, or replace them with fallback characters that break the flow of the page. Others simply don’t support them at all. 

We also need to be aware that te reo Māori words tend to be longer than their English counterparts. That means text wraps differently, spacing needs more breathing room, and headings sometimes require rethinking. A font that looks sharp in English may suddenly feel cramped or unbalanced once te reo is added. Without planning for this, line breaks and wrapping can fall apart.  

Accessibility isn’t just about legibility. It’s about cultural and linguistic inclusion. 

Developers Need to Play Their Part Too 

For developers, supporting te reo Māori well isn’t just a matter of swapping in the right font, it’s about building systems that treat the language with the same care and precision we expect for English. That starts with handling macrons properly.  

Your code needs to store, serve and display them without breaking, which means using Unicode endtoend and avoiding any processes that strip or “simplify” characters behind the scenes. Different platforms generate macrons in different ways, so if you’re comparing or sorting text, you’ll want to make sure it’s normalised so ā means ā everywhere in your system.  

Webfonts need just as much scrutiny: many popular ones don’t include the full set of macronised vowels, and overly aggressive font subsetting can accidentally remove them. Even fallback fonts matter. For example, when your primary font doesn’t load, those macrons still need to appear, not vanish.  

Marking up content correctly with lang="mi" also helps screen readers pronounce kupu Māori properly, and embedding fonts in PDFs or SVGs prevents broken characters when files travel between devices.  

Thoughtful development ensures te reo Māori is spoken, seen and understood the way it should be, with clarity, accuracy and respect. 

Testing Matters Especially With Screen Readers 

If your organisation uses or publishes te reo Māori, testing isn’t optional. Try reading your content with NVDA or VoiceOver. Listen to how the macron changes the rhythm and clarity of kupu. Then remove the macron and hear the difference.