Re: longdesc and ARIA

aloha!

i agree with charles -- there are cases where the long descriptor could be
defined using "describedby", but there are at least as many compelling 
cases as to why LONGDESC neither equals "describedby" nor ALT "labelledby"

i believe it is a grevious error to equate LONGDESC with "describedby" in 
a 1 to 1 mapping -- a LONGDESC could itself be a tree view widget or other 
ARIA enabled widget that allows for more than passive interaction with a 
linear description of the image for which the LONGDESC has been defined; 
something especially useful if the image being described is a flow chart 
or another form...  LONGDESC simply means "long descriptor" -- what form 
that descriptor takes can no longer be limited to a static page, but must 
take into account -- not to mention take advantage of -- extant 
technologies that provide a richer -- not to mention potentially 
interactive -- user experiences than a linear discription on a static 
HTML/XHTML page...

what is needed is dialog with the WCAG group, so as to add this missing
dimension to its long descriptor strageties...  moreover, in the case of
a descriptive widget, it should be possible for a user to have the widget
displayed inline, where the image is declared, thereby obviating the need
for the user to manually invoke the long descriptor...

gregory.

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A conclusion is simply the place where someone got tired of thinking.
                                                      -- Arthur Bloc
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   Gregory J. Rosmaita - oedipus@hicom.net AND gregory@ubats.org
        Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/
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Received on Monday, 28 April 2008 15:45:33 UTC