HTML5 Image Description Extension (longdesc) - comments

Hello,

I'm quite new in this area however I would like to add my 2 censt to HTML5
Image longdesc. 

 

Answer to your questions:

*	Do the  <http://www.w3.org/TR/html-longdesc/#use-cases> use cases
adequately represent end user requirements?

Yes they are ok. However please see my comments below.

*	Are the requirement levels (must, should) for
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html-longdesc/#user-agents> user agents appropriately
defined?

No, I believe all requirement levels are fine.

*	Are the requirements for
<http://www.w3.org/TR/html-longdesc/#implementation> implementation
sufficiently clear and robust?

This seems to be ok.

*	Were
<https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/buglist.cgi?product=HTML%20WG&amp;component=
HTML%20Image%20Description%20Extension> issues raised against the
specification satisfactorily resolved?

I can't answer for raised issues in bugzilla but this is short description
of my issues with this specification :

-          Add info why to use URL instead of description in longdesc 

-          Add more info why to create new attribute where we have it in
HTML4 already, benefits of that solution

-          Minor rephrasing issues

 

 

 

My comments added by section name:

1.       Abstract

Can we add here information about general use case in one sentence? I would
prefer to have it here also as it is hard to understand the purpose of this
document in comparison to HTML4 on the first glance.

 

2.       Introduction

It would be nice to add information why we need it and why HTML4 longdesc is
not enough. Also it would be nice to explain why using URL  instead of
description is better.

Can we also change example a bit so it would look more clear? (I mean
formatting)

 

3.       Use Cases and Requirements

Can we rephrase this part? i.e. like this:

"There are many ways users can successfully interact with visual content
even if they cannot see, or see well. (..)"

 

4.       Use cases

Generally I believe we should use "shorter" sentences in Use Cases as in
some sections like "Linking to a description included within a page" it is
hard to read and understand the purpose ( a sentence that takes 3 lines).

 

4.1   Identifying a well-known image

Can we rephrase this part? i.e. like this:

"There are many well-known images which are widely reproduced and well
known. In some cases, such as "Mona Lisa", "Gerníka", Cubbin's "Lost",
Leunig's "ramming the shears", the most effective way to indentify an image
is to use its title, creator and similar information that would be found in
catalog. However since different people know the image by different titles,
and some images have no widely known titles identifying an image is often an
important part of framing a discussion. Where the image itself cannot be
seen, a description can often be used to offer easier recognition than the
cataloging information, for example "Washington crossing some river,
standing heroically in the boat, while soldiers do the hard work", or "the
Da Vinci picture of the guy in a square and a circle".

 

4.2   Describing a complex diagram

Can we rephrase this part? i.e. like this:

"Environments diagrams are widely used to explain a concept or transmit
information efficiently. For a user with a reduced ability to see the image
(poor contrast vision and other conditions are equivalently relevant as a
complete lack of vision), a description can be crucial to understand the
information being presented."

 

4.3   A self-describing artistic work

Can we rephrase this part? i.e. like this:

"Visual design of many pages is an important part of the message that author
wants to transmit to a fully-sighted user. In the same time the author would
like to convey as much of that design as possible to a user with low or no
vision available"

 

4.4   Linking to a description included within a page

Can we rephrase this? part i.e. like this:

"In cases where an image already has a description included within a page
making the linkage explicit can provide further clarity for a user  who is
not able to interpret the default layout. Those cases where is might be
crusial are e.g. when user have forced a re-layout of the page elements, or
when he/she do not see the default visual relationship between the element
and its description.

This practice also enables description to be provided for all users."

 

 

5.       Requirements for an Image Description functionality 

5.1   No visual encumbrance

What do you mean here by "visual encumbrance on the page" ? Do you mean "It
must be possible to provide a description for an image on the page without
any visual encumbrance of the user." ??

 

6.       The lingdesc attribute

6.1   Implementation

6.1.1          3.0.1 Authors and Conformance checkers

Can we rephrase this? part i.e. like this:

"The URL is a  <http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/links.html#hyperlink> hyperlink
to a description of the parent image represented by img element." (I'm not
entirely pleased with my rephrasing, but maybe this will give you a feeling
what I would like to change here)

 

6.2   Extension to the HTMLImageElement interface

 

6.2.1           Attribute

6.2.1.1    longdesc of type DOMString

Can we rephrase this? part i.e. like this:

"It represents a hyperlink to a detailed description of the parent image
represented by HTMLImageElement." 

 

Examples - can we reformat it to look more clear?

 

 

 

I hope that you will find it helpful.

 

Best regards,

Marta

 

 

cid:image001.png@01CE518C.41DEB9F0

 

 

Marta Pawlowska

Samsung R&D Institute Poland

Samsung Electronics

Office +48 22 377 8643

m.pawlowska@samsung.com