Thanks, that's helpful Evan. Given that we're out ahead on this one, are there engaged developers asking for it? I ask because there aren't any developer signals listed and we tend to view things with developer support as more likely to be worth the risk.
Best, Alex On Monday, June 1, 2026 at 12:25:44 PM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > Thanks for the feedback, Alex! I created a PR adding a section for > "alternatives considered" to the Explainer: > https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/pull/189/changes/cb93e856d59e3045c08937dca5e7d14f8aab0c44 > > Thanks, > Evan > > On Mon, Jun 1, 2026 at 11:38 AM Alex Russell <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> This looks really useful; were any alternative designs considered? Can >> they be documented in the Explainer (per our usual format)? >> >> Best, >> >> Alex >> >> On Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 10:24:52 AM UTC-7 Chromestatus wrote: >> >>> *Contact emails* >>> [email protected] >>> >>> *Explainer* >>> >>> https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/blob/main/explainers/unspoken-punctuation.md >>> >>> *Specification* >>> https://webaudio.github.io/web-speech-api >>> >>> *Summary* >>> Adds the unspokenPunctuation boolean attribute to the SpeechRecognition >>> interface of the Web Speech API. When enabled (true), this attribute >>> directs the speech recognition engine to automatically infer and insert >>> punctuation marks (such as periods, commas, and question marks) based on >>> the user's natural pauses, grammatical structure, and prosody, without >>> requiring explicit spoken punctuation commands. >>> >>> *Blink component* >>> Blink>Speech >>> <https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3ESpeech%22> >>> >>> *Web Feature ID* >>> speech-recognition <https://webstatus.dev/features/speech-recognition> >>> >>> *Motivation* >>> Currently, developers building voice-enabled web applications—such as >>> casual dictation tools, automated transcription services, or conversational >>> assistants—receive raw, unpunctuated text streams from the Web Speech API. >>> To make this text readable and polished, developers are often forced to >>> implement and maintain complex downstream NLP models to infer basic >>> formatting. Additionally, from an end-user perspective, having to >>> explicitly dictate punctuation (e.g., stopping to say "comma" or "period") >>> disrupts the natural flow of continuous speech and significantly increases >>> cognitive load. Introducing the unspokenPunctuation attribute solves this >>> by moving automatic, prosody-aware punctuation directly into the browser's >>> speech recognition engine. This provides an intuitive, conversational voice >>> typing experience for users out-of-the-box, while dramatically lowering the >>> barrier to entry for developers building voice-driven web apps. >>> >>> *Initial public proposal* >>> *No information provided* >>> >>> *TAG review* >>> *No information provided* >>> >>> *TAG review status* >>> Not applicable >>> >>> *Goals for experimentation* >>> None >>> >>> *Risks* >>> >>> >>> *Interoperability and Compatibility* >>> *No information provided* >>> >>> *Gecko*: Positive ( >>> https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/issues/187#issuecomment-4479796822 >>> ) >>> >>> *WebKit*: No signal >>> >>> *Web developers*: No signals >>> >>> *Other signals*: >>> >>> *Ergonomics* >>> N/A >>> >>> *Activation* >>> N/A >>> >>> *Security* >>> N/A >>> >>> *WebView application risks* >>> >>> Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such >>> that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications? >>> N/A, Not supported on Android >>> >>> >>> *Debuggability* >>> None required. >>> >>> *Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, >>> Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?* >>> No >>> On-device Web Speech is only supported on Mac, Windows, and Linux. >>> >>> *Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests >>> <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>?* >>> Yes >>> >>> >>> *Flag name on about://flags* >>> *No information provided* >>> >>> *Finch feature name* >>> WebSpeechUnspokenPunctuation >>> >>> *Rollout plan* >>> Will ship enabled for all users >>> >>> *Requires code in //chrome?* >>> True >>> >>> *Tracking bug* >>> https://bugs.chromium.org/b/514764702 >>> >>> *Measurement* >>> N/A >>> >>> *Adoption expectation* >>> Feature is used by specific partner (Google Meet) to provide >>> functionality within 12 months of launch in Chrome. >>> >>> *Estimated milestones* >>> Shipping on desktop 151 >>> DevTrial on desktop 150 >>> >>> *Anticipated spec changes* >>> >>> Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or >>> interop issues. Please list open issues (e.g. links to known github issues >>> in the project for the feature specification) whose resolution may >>> introduce web compat/interop risk (e.g., changing to naming or structure of >>> the API in a non-backward-compatible way). >>> >>> https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/pull/188/changes#diff-5e793325cd2bfc452e268a4aa2f02b4024dd9584bd1db3c2595f61f1ecf7b985 >>> >>> *Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status* >>> https://chromestatus.com/feature/4785284026859520?gate=4835184634626048 >>> >>> This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status >>> <https://chromestatus.com>. >>> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "blink-dev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/142c0e49-4fee-4976-b8e3-64ca1817e1b6n%40chromium.org.
