- From: Lachlan Hunt <lachlan.hunt@lachy.id.au>
- Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:10:31 +1000
- To: public-html <public-html@w3.org>
Hi, I think the description for alt text in the section titled "A key part of the content that doesn't have an obvious textual alternative" needs to be rewritten. [1] Firstly, change the title to "A key part of the content". I think these first 2 paragraphs from that section should be replaced. The spec currently states: > In certain rare cases, the image is simply a critical part of the > content, and there might even be no alternative text available. This > could be the case, for instance, in a photo gallery, where a user has > uploaded 3000 photos from a vacation trip, without providing any > descriptions of the images. The images are the whole point of the > pages containing them. > > In such cases, the alt attribute may be omitted, but the alt > attribute should be included, with a useful value, if at all > possible. If an image is a key part of the content, the alt attribute > must not be specified with an empty value. The following is my proposed replacement: --- In some cases, the image is a critical part of the content. This could be the case, for instance, in a photo gallery, a series of screenshots, or a comic strip. In such cases, authors should provide suitable alternate text. When suitable alternate text is available, it must be included in the alt attribute. Example: <figure> <legend>Cat Proximity</legend> <img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cat_proximity.png" alt="As a human approaches a cat, intelligence decreases and the inanity of statements increases. e.g. A man says to a cat: 'You're a kitty!'"> title="Yes you are! And you're sitting there! Hi, kitty!" </figure> However, even if an authoring tool allows for alternate text to be provided, there are some cases where authors will still fail to do so. For example, where a user has uploaded 3000 photos from a vacation trip, without providing any descriptions of the images. In those cases, the alt attribute must be omitted; it must not be specified with an empty value. [insert remaining content, beginning with the photo sharing and screenshot examples] --- The spec could possibly also include a requirement for authoring tools to provide a mechanism for the author to provide alt text, perhaps with a reference to the ATAG spec [2]. [1] http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#alt [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-AUTOOLS/#gl-prewritten-descs -- Lachlan Hunt http://lachy.id.au/
Received on Sunday, 26 August 2007 06:10:47 UTC