Re: CFC re ISSUE-31 Missing Alt

Hi Sean,

> Actually a crowdsourcing mechanism is probably outside of the scope of the HTML
> specification. What this is about is defining the opportunity for such a mechanism to
> exist by defining a mechanism for stating @alt-not-asserted. That’s all we need to add
> to the spec if we deem that it is acceptable for AT to try by whatever means to infer an
> alt text.

I agree. From what Matt has said, if this method is accepted, the
following would need to be specified:

* the missing attribute
* any image with a missing attribute also needs an ID, or it wouldn't
be associable by the UA/AT.
* rel attribute for the <link> to the mechanism for associating the
alt attribute.

> I guess a browser or AT would be at liberty to scour the image metadata as much as it
> would be to apply a crowdsourced definition, or both, since the AT knows that the
> author didn’t apply the alt, it can inform the user as to the potential deficiency in the
> located text(s).
>
> You missed the point of the example,
> what I was trying to get at in that case was that the alt is missing. But depict a case
> where the image metadata contains a better source of a replacement, being as it was
> supplied by the photographer or agency who knew the context of the image capture;
> than a crowdsourcer who only has the information in the image to go on.

I’m sorry for being so dense. I agree both repair techniques are
valuable as repair techniques. The thing is that they are meant to
mitigate damages after all else has failed.

Thanks again for bringing this up, Sean. It is an important discussion.

Best Regards,
Laura

-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 13:06:15 UTC