RE: Web Forms: Usability and Accessibility Question.

 
Tina Holmboe:

>> <label for="id">First name <img src="asterix.gif" alt="mandatory  
>> information"></label><input type="text"...>

> * visual users get it because asterix is a commonly used marker
> * screen reader users get it because the alt text gets read out and 
> does not rely on dubious implementation of "title" or user preference
settings.

  What would someone with reduced eyesight who scales up his/her font in
  the UA get ?


I agree this is a theoretical problem but in practice I have yet to see it
as an issue. I have tested with scores of people with visual impairments -
they rarely use browser text size and instead use magnification or nothing
(many of them don't know that you can increase the text size until we tell
them - but that's another issue). 

Now what could be a problem is using a graphic that does not have a defined
background colour e.g. a black asterix that disappears when a black
background is selected as user preferences (this I see a lot) thus if you
use a graphic make it as big and as bold as possible and make sure the
background and foreground are specified and contrast well.

Jon