[Bug 9081] Confusing alt text in the fourth The Lady of Shalott example

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=9081


steve faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |WONTFIX




--- Comment #1 from steve faulkner <faulkner.steve@gmail.com>  2010-02-24 10:50:54 ---
(In reply to comment #0)
> The fourth "The Lady of Shalott" example would read as follows to a
> non-graphical user:
>    *** Medieval Nights ***
>    Painting of a woman in a white flowing dress, sitting in a small boat.
>    Join us for our medieval theme nights every Friday at 
>    Boaters Bar,on the riverside, Kingston upon Thames.
> This would be very confusing to say the least. The image is purely decorative;
> the alt="" text should be empty.

the presence of an image is indicated to users of screen readers such as JAWS
or NVDA

>    *** Medieval Nights ***
>    image: Painting of a woman in a white flowing dress, sitting in a small boat.
>    Join us for our medieval theme nights every Friday at 
>    Boaters Bar,on the riverside, Kingston upon Thames.

So it would not be confusing at all. A majority (70%) of screen reader users in
a recent survey indictaed their preference to have an image described "If an
image is used solely to enhance the mood or feel of a web page."

While I myself would reccommend that such images have an empty alt, I cannot
say that if an author does provide such alt text that it would be
non-conforming in HTML5. What I will do though is provide more examples of such
content and in what cases it would recommened that alt=""


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Received on Wednesday, 24 February 2010 10:50:57 UTC