- From: Chris Ridpath <chris.ridpath@utoronto.ca>
- Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 14:32:44 -0500
- To: "Andrew Kirkpatrick" <andrew_kirkpatrick@wgbh.org>
- Cc: "Jim Thatcher" <jim@jimthatcher.com>, "WAI WCAG List" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>, <geoff_freed@wgbh.org>
The question we need to answer is "Does this Alt text comply with the guidelines?" The 2 tests we use to determine that are: 1) Alt text must identify the purpose or function of the image. http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/test15.html 2) Alt text must contain any text in the image unless the text is decorative or redundant. http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/test11.html Our example, the WAI compliance logo at http://atrc.utoronto.ca has the following Alt text: "Level Triple-A conformance icon, W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" It includes all the text in the image so it passes test 2. One purpose of the logo is to show that the page passes the WCAG1. I think the Alt text covers that by saying "conformance icon". Because the icon is used as a link, the other purpose is to link to a page that explains what the conformance means. The Alt text doesn't really cover that and would fail test 1 above, therefore failing guideline 1.1 SC 1. > I don't want to get into an argument > about good alt text, but... > I'd like to avoid that too but we need to be clear. People can't follow the guidelines if they don't know what they mean. What do others think - Is the Alt text for that icon OK? Cheers, Chris
Received on Thursday, 13 January 2005 19:34:47 UTC