- From: Matthew Atkinson <matkinson@tpgi.com>
- Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:59:02 +0000
- To: Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group <public-apa@w3.org>
Hi all, Here is my draft comment on SVG Native [1] per the GitHub issue [2] we discussed [3] on Wednesday. Please let us know your thoughts on it, and the following questions. 1. Do we only care about providing alt text for the image as a whole? Do we only care about the <title>, or do we care about the <desc> too? I think we should care about both, but both should be optional. 2. Do we care about the ability to provide alt text for _parts_ of the image? (I'm not sure; I think this could be unreasonably onerous because it would invite the notion of accessible name calculation, though I am inexperienced with SVG, and interested in your views.) 3. Do we care about supporting _visual_ text rendering within the image? (I think we shouldn't, as this is explicitly removed for everyone [4], whereas the lack of alt text is by definition only excluding _some_ users.) 4. Would we _require_ renderers to expose the name and description to the platform's accessibility API if it has one? We compare SVG Native to PNG et al, but none of those (to my knowledge) require this level of exposure of info, and I suspect that would be a big sticking point for SVG Native. But if it's not required, it probably won't happen. Would we be happy with a "should" rather than a "must"? NOTE: I have not clarified our position on this point in the current draft response. Here's my draft response... " We are concerned that removing the ability to specify an accessible name and description for the image (i.e. <title> and <desc>) would present accessibility barriers, and would limit the capabilities of SVG Native compared to other image formats. We're concerned about the lack of ability to specify an accessible name and description because content authors would have to take extra steps to provide that information when working in the native context versus on the web. By allowing the use of <title> and <desc> in SVG Native, authors could use the same file in both contexts. Many operating environments provide a platform accessibility API, and accessibility properties onto which the <title> and <desc> values could be mapped. Other image formats provide for similar metadata: the PNG spec provides for various metadata, including an image description [0]; GIF and JPEG files provide for metadata and text comment storage. " best regards, Matthew [0] https://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/#4Concepts.AncillInfo [1] https://svgwg.org/specs/svg-native/ [2] https://github.com/w3c/svgwg/issues/874 [3] https://www.w3.org/2022/04/13-apa-minutes.html#t05 and https://www.w3.org/2022/04/13-apa-minutes.html#t07 [4] https://svgwg.org/specs/svg-native/#text -- Matthew Tylee Atkinson (he/him) -- Senior Accessibility Engineer TPG Interactive https://www.tpgi.com A Vispero Company https://www.vispero.com -- This message is intended to be confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message from your system and notify us immediately. Any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or omitted to be taken by an unintended recipient in reliance on this message is prohibited and may be unlawful.
Received on Friday, 15 April 2022 14:59:18 UTC