- From: Gregory J. Rosmaita <oedipus@hicom.net>
- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 08:17:03 +0100
- To: sfaulkner@paciellogroup.com
- Cc: public-html-a11y@w3.org, wai-xtech@w3.org
aloha, steve! overall, i am really impressed with the work you've done on the HTML5 Techniques for providing useful text alternatives draft (congrats on getting a public draft approved) -- but in re-reading and discussing the draft i've run into the same reaction i first had when i reviewed an earlier draft of the document, and i believe it is an example that you inherited from a previous HTML5 draft: QUOTE source="http://dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/#images-enhance" Example 6.1 Here is an example of an image closely related to the subject matter of the page content but not directly discussed. An image of a painting inspired by a poem, on a page reciting that poem. The following snippet shows an example. The image is a painting titled the "Lady of Shallot", it is inspired by the poem and its subject matter is derived from the poem. Therefore it is strongly recommended that a text alternative is provided. The description of the content of the image would be redundant for users who can view the image, so the appropriate place to put it is in the alt attribute. Example code: <hgroup><h1>The Lady of Shalott</h1> <h2>A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson</h2></hgroup> <figure><img src="shalott.jpeg" alt="A painting of a young women with long hair sitting in a wooden boat, she is wearing a flowing white dress. A large piece of intricately patterned fabric is draped over the side. In her right hand she holds the chain mooring the boat. Her expression is mournful. She stares at a crucifix lying in front of her. Beside it are three candles. Two have blown out."></figure> UNQUOTE example 6.1 is a poor example of alt text useage, and as such should be deleted or modified -- alt text is the brief "at a glance" or "congnative thumbnail", so the extremely long value defined for the example isn't appropriate as alt text, but as a concise long description; alt text needs to be terse for a number of reasons, including usability, extremely limited viewports, small amount of video "real estate" (iPad and smaller devices) etc. 358 characters isn't a terse descriptor or cognative thumbnail -- this seems to me a case where a picture may be worth at least 358 words, but only make me listen to all 365 if i want/need to if i ask for it, explicitly or via user preferences -- i also need a means of being alerted that a longer description is available, and, if need be, need to have side-by-side exposition of longdesc with image option available, for someone with an EXTREMELY limited viewport or a user with a cognative disability with or without AT, who is attempting to compile a comprehensive view of the image being described is this something that can be fixed? do you think it advisable to state only "terse, short, cognitive thumbnails, such as those used in the examples below" be used for alt values, as i for one would not want to set a hard cap on the MaxValue of alt text, but do want developers/content creators to realize just what alt text actually is and what longer descriptors are, as well as the need for robust support for them apologies for not having commented upon this earlier -- it fell through the holes in the sieve i call my mind and slipped down on my ToDo list until it was off my radar until i was very recently reminded of it -- thanks to all who helped "jog" my memory... gregory. ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Kill the rattlesnake that gives no warning; spare the one that does." -- Lenni Lenape proverb ------------------------------------------------------------------ Gregory J. Rosmaita <oedipus@hicom.net> Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/index.html Oedipus' Online Complex: http://my.opera.com/oedipus/ UBATS - United Blind Advocates for Talking Signs: http://ubats.org ------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Thursday, 3 June 2010 07:17:33 UTC