[Bug 8645] New: Alt text for images

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=8645

           Summary: Alt text for images
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: PC
               URL: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/text-level-
                    semantics.html#the-img-element
        OS/Version: Windows NT
            Status: NEW
          Keywords: a11y
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec bugs
        AssignedTo: dave.null@w3.org
        ReportedBy: gez.lemon@gmail.com
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: ian@hixie.ch, mike@w3.org, public-html@w3.org, public-
                    html-a11y@w3.org


1.  Steven's proposal at
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/textalternatives.html does a
number of nice things. (Recc: adopt this general approach. Rationale is that
the user agent and assistive technology support for the elements and attributes
in question will be subject to change over time. It's good to have examples,
but normative examples are problematic in many of these cases given the state
of UA support. Currently, the spec includes roughly 15 pages of alt-related
examples, far more extensive than examples provided for any other attribute.
Because these concepts apply generally and should apply beyond the scope of the
<img> element, the examples should be addressed in a separate section (ex. as
an appendix or as part of 4.8.2.1.12. Regarding the specific examples, a number
of them still provide conflicting advice from WCAG 2.0, should be reviewed for
consistency with the WAI CG Consensus resolutions and should be updated to
reflect ARIA integration when it is complete.

2. Regarding, "In a conforming document, the absence of the alt attribute
indicates that the image is a key part of the content but that a textual
replacement for the image was not available when the image was generated."
Propose that, as with previous version of HTML, a valid text alternative be
present for conformance with the specification. Refer to WAI CG Consensus
Resolutions on Text alternatives in HTML 5.

3. The derivation of caption information in, "If the src attribute is set and
the alt attribute is not,"
(http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/embedded-content-0.html#the-img-element) lists
title at the top of the list. Suggest that it instead be listed second,
following the first <dt> of the parent <figure>.

4. The description of text alternatives should include a specific reference to
WCAG 2.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/#text-equiv)

5. This element should include some mechanism to programmatically associate a
long description with non-text content (ex. aria-describedby)


-- 
Configure bugmail: http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/userprefs.cgi?tab=email
------- You are receiving this mail because: -------
You are on the CC list for the bug.

Received on Tuesday, 5 January 2010 10:50:14 UTC