[Bug 10481] Default role of <IMG> should be "img"

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=10481





--- Comment #25 from steve faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>  2010-09-10 09:15:51 ---
(In reply to comment #24)
> (In reply to comment #22)
> > (In reply to comment #1)
> > > Rationale: For most images, role=img is unsuitable, because the <img> doesn't
> > > represent an image, but something else (e.g. text as part of a link).
> > 
> > You are countermanding your own semantics. The first sentence for the img
> > element states:
> > 
> > An img element represents an image. 
> Regarding "represents": Several other places in the spec, the word 'represents'
> has a link to a paragraph with a definition of 'represents': [*]
> ]] 
> In the absence of style-layer rules to the contrary (e.g. author style sheets),
> user agents are expected to render an element so that it conveys to the user
> the meaning that the element represents, as described by this specification. 
> [[
> [*] http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/rendering#represents
> And in a recent bug (that I unfortunately was unable to relocate, despite
> searching for it a lot ...), Ian explained to Maciej that CSS can used to used
> to adjust the semantics stylistically. While ARIA can be used to futher adjust
> the semantics, for AT users. HTML even has some features of its own for
> adjusting the semantics for AT users: an empty @alt means that an <img>  is not
> represented as an image to AT users.
> > Either an img is an image, in which case it is an image to every user agent,
> > regardless of author intent. Or it is not, in which case, it is not an image to
> > every user agent.
> Even if the title of this bug is 'default role of <img> should be "img"', the
> bug is only about <img> elements which do not have an empty @alt attribute.
> With that qualification, I believe that you do indeed point at an inconsistency
> in Ian's line of argumentation inside this bug report: Whenever there isn't
> something AT specific (such as an empty @alt) which modifies the the semantics
> of the <img> element, then an <img> represents an image, and thus its role
> should be "img".

 leif wrote:
>an empty @alt means that an <img>  is not represented as an image to AT users.

currently that is not strictly true, an <img> is still mapped to accessibility
APIs as an image, AT use the alt="" as flag to indicate the image should not be
announced to users.

In HTML5 alt="" is mapped to role="presentation" so AT will no longer be able
to provide a choice to users as to whether they get an indication that an image
is present or not.

-- 
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 Friday, 10 September 2010 09:15:53 UTC