RE: Possible problem with Fahrner Image Replacement

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 11:53:24 +0100, Lauke   PH wrote:
> Apologies for barging in late on this, but I've been on holiday...
> One thing that struck me in this discussion was Mike Rundle's comment
> 
>>  if you set the color of text to 
>>  transparent, the browser usually renders the color as the "default 
>>  color" for that type of text
> 
> What do you mean exactly by "set the color of text to transparent" ?
> If you're referring to a CSS similar to color: transparent, 

exactly, color: transparent; I know it doesn't work, but it would be 
useful(?) if it was implemented.  During some testing that I did,
the color that showed up was a "default blue", the kind reserved for 
default
link colors.

> I would like
> to ask how supported this is, as - unless I'm misreading the W3C spec -
> "transparent" can only be used for background, and not for color.

Exactly, that's the *wishful* thinking part of my post, however after 
reading
many different designer's views on the current problems with Fahrner 
Image
Replacement idea (screenreaders passing by the text altogether), these 
are the 
current ways people are getting around this:

	1. Use the background-image CSS rule, and color your text manually to 
not be
	   visible against the background, e.g. white on white.  Then, by ways 
of CSS 
	   positioning, move it off one way or another so that the background 
image
	   shows, however the text cannot be seen (but still inside the 
containing element).

	2. Have the background-image placed, but move the text so far away 
(inside the 
	   containing element) that it expands the width or height of the 
element.  Then,
	   set the overflow property of the containing element to hidden so 
that the text
	   does not show at all, and the initial dimensions are not skewed.

For right now, I'm trying to implement the first idea in the sites I'm 
developing, 
however, when a better method (less of a hack job, IMHO) comes my way, 
I'll gladly
throw that into my code instead.

> 
> Incidentally, what happens if display: none (which causes the problem 
> in FIR) is changed to display: hidden ? Hmm...may have to do some testing...
> 
That's what accessibility experts and designers alike are wrestling 
with right now,
what display: hidden; does to text reader applications and if that 
property is useful
in any way.

-Mike

> Patrick
> ________________________________
> Patrick H. Lauke
> Webmaster / University of Salford
> http://www.salford.ac.uk
> 
>

Received on Monday, 21 July 2003 09:54:41 UTC