RE: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Article on Updated F65

Jonathan,

 

I did not know that you were the author of this article; please accept my
apologies for that.

 

We need to be very careful with our wording, especially WG members. You were
very clear about accessibility support being needed. 

 

But I, personally, would be more comfortable with being very clear about
exactly what kind of non-text content F65 is discussing by using text more
in line with the failure text, such as using "A primary change is the
allowance of new methods other than the alt attribute for non-text elements
for images or on images." (or of type "image")  and/or "Website teams now
have greater flexibility to provide text alternatives for non-text content
for images or on images." (or of type "image")

 

This will certainly stir up the discussion...:-)

 

My language was perhaps too strong; I regret wording it as I did. Forgive
me?

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 
Senior Accessibility SME (WCAG/Section 508/ADA), Standards QA Architect
JPMC dCE eCAT 

 

JPMC Digital | Wilmington, DE |  <mailto:Katie.Haritos-Shea@Chase.com>
Katie.Haritos-Shea@Chase.com | Office: 302-282-1439 | Ext: 21439 | Cell:
703-371-5545 |  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/> LinkedIn
Profile

 

From: Jonathan Avila [mailto:jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com] 
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 8:26 PM
To: Katie Haritos-Shea GMAIL; w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Cc: Katie.Haritos-Shea@chase.com; David MacDonald; Bruce Bailey; Andrew
Kirkpatrick; Joshue O Connor
Subject: RE: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Article on Updated F65

 

Katie, as you know I am the author of the post.  Sure the title may seem
provocative - but it wasn't meant to upset people -it was meant to start a
larger discussion in the community that had not yet begun.

 

I don't think I imply in any way that F65 is a failure for anything other
than img, area, and input type image.  My statement that you have
frustration over "A primary change is the allowance of new methods other
than the alt attribute for non-text elements (e.g. images)." And "Website
teams now have greater flexibility to provide text alternatives for non-text
content." was intended to harmonize with the language of ARIA 10 "ARIA10:
Using aria-labelledby to provide a text alternative for non-text content".
WAI's own technique ARIA10 states "alternatives for non-text content" - so
I'm not sure why my publicizing this accepted technique is unexpected.

 

When I was thinking of different types of non-text content that could
benefit from alternatives I was thinking of elements that don't support alt
such as glyphs, character entities, poster images on video elements, SVG,
etc.  I was thinking of the allowance of title on elements as indicated by
the ARIA specification and the HTML5 Platform Accessibility mapping guides.
I feel confident that for F65 and ARIA10 I was very clear that these methods
had to be accessibility supported.

 

If there is any mis-information in my post I'm happy to update it.  Please
feel free to comment on our blog and share your thoughts.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jonathan

 

From: Katie Haritos-Shea GMAIL [mailto:ryladog@gmail.com
<mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ] 
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 6:57 PM
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org> 
Cc: ryladog@gmail.com <mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ;
Katie.Haritos-Shea@Chase.com <mailto:Katie.Haritos-Shea@Chase.com> ; David
MacDonald; Bruce Bailey; Andrew Kirkpatrick; 'Joshue O Connor'
Subject: FW: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Article on Updated F65
Importance: High

 

 

Folks,

 

Please see the note I wrote below concerning SSB's article interpreting the
newly updated F65. I am sure this is just one of many articles, but, this
was one of my concerns all along. It takes so very little for
mis-information to get spread around so quickly..

 

While this article has generally good information and recommendations, this
one aspect, not being specific that it only applies to images, in
communication, is going to cause so much heart-ache by saying."A primary
change is the allowance of new methods other than the alt attribute for
non-text elements (e.g. images)." And "Website teams now have greater
flexibility to provide text alternatives for non-text content."
Article URL:
<https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/>
https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/ 

 

The original email came into the our Accessibility Team office today from
another employee who gets SSB Bart news blasts...

 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 
Senior Accessibility SME (WCAG/Section 508/ADA/AODA)

 

Cell: 703-371-5545 |  <mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ryladog@gmail.com | Oakton,
VA |  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/> LinkedIn Profile |
Office: 703-371-5545

 


Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 6:23 PM
Sender Removed
Subject: RE: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Please Review

 

Sigh...Yeah..No,

 

See, I knew this mis-understanding was coming, and I fought this - my
recommendation was to include alt for images *with* aria-labelledby
attribute (w/id), aria-label attribute and title - for a limited time period
(say 3 years), to drive ARIA uptake while providing full backwards
compatibility. I did have support for that idea, but, not by enough of the
right folks, so..

 

Please NOTE:  This failure is *ONLY* for images. The SSB article says
"non-text elements (e.g. images)", which is wrong. It is not 'an example of
one way' or 'such as' on images, it is only allowed for images AND only in
environments/situations where aria-labelledby(w/id)/aria-label/title are
proven to be accessibility supported. It is not intended for any other type
of non-text content.

 

This is the updated Failure:

F65: Failure of Success Criterion 1.1.1 due to omitting the alt attribute or
text alternative on img elements, area elements, and input elements of type
"image".
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/F65.html 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 

 

Sender Removed
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 1:49 PM
To: EC AccessibilityTeam
Subject: Is the Alt Attribute Dead?

 

 

  _____  

Is the Alt Attribute Dead?
<https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/> 

In March 2014 the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group
(WG) published several new ARIA techniques for WCAG 2 and updated several
failure techniques. A primary change is the allowance of new methods other
than the alt attribute for non-text elements (e.g. images). This post serves
to describe the change in position, its roots, and implications for use. A
New sufficient technique to promote ARIA for elements that don't support alt
The sufficient technique ARIA10 was created to provide an example [...]

SSB BART Group <https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog>  / Tue, 08 Apr 2014
14:27:03 GMT

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