- From: Tighe K. Lory <tkl02@health.state.ny.us>
- Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:40:02 -0400
- To: "David Poehlman" <poehlman1@comcast.net>
- Cc: "Alastair Campbell" <ac@nomensa.com>, "Olivier GENDRIN" <olivier.gendrin@gmail.com>, "HTML WG" <public-html@w3.org>, "Tighe K. Lory" <tkl02@health.state.ny.us>, "WAI Interest Group list" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Hi David, I agree, I avoid doing such things. There are still many designers out there that use such trivial images. My thinking is that a visual aesthetic can be represented aurally in a different way other than alt text. "David Poehlman" <poehlman1@comcas t.net> To "Olivier GENDRIN" 08/30/2007 09:33 <olivier.gendrin@gmail.com>, "Tighe AM K. Lory" <tkl02@health.state.ny.us> cc "Alastair Campbell" <ac@nomensa.com>, "HTML WG" <public-html@w3.org>, "WAI Interest Group list" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org> Subject Re: User Testing of Accessiblity Features So why put useless stuff on the page in the first place? If it is there it should be useful, if it is useful, we need to know it is there. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tighe K. Lory" <tkl02@health.state.ny.us> To: "Olivier GENDRIN" <olivier.gendrin@gmail.com> Cc: "Alastair Campbell" <ac@nomensa.com>; "HTML WG" <public-html@w3.org>; "WAI Interest Group list" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:22 AM Subject: Re: User Testing of Accessiblity Features > And my colleague Léonie would argue that if the image conveys something (even "just" emotive), then she would like to know it's there and what it is supposed to represent. > > That demonstrates the hard-core usability vs holistic experience divide quite nicely. Maybe we should think of this in the reverse. For example, if a designer were to use aural stylesheets to give different voices to various parts of a page -- should there be an alternative for those not using a screen reader? I would say yes, in most cases a designer would use a different font face/size. But the designer wouldn't put a notice on the page to non-screenreader users that different voices are being used. I think the same could be done for background images that are just eye candy. A similar emotive feeling could be expressed in a different way then just putting alt text on the page. It is harsh to the way the page is read, and gets in the way when the informative value is questionable. It reminds me of a point one of my former colleagues made in regards to the differences between print and Web media. He would say that they are different, and you can't just take a print publication and dump it on a Web page and expect it to be effective. Our jobs as Web developers is to convey important information to users, not document every visual/aural design choice on a page, that is not what the user wants or needs. I believe that accessibility and usability must be considered together when designing, What is the point of a accessible page that is completely unusable? "Olivier GENDRIN" <olivier.gendrin@ gmail.com> To "Alastair Campbell" 08/30/2007 06:45 <ac@nomensa.com> AM cc "Tighe K. Lory" <tkl02@health.state.ny.us>, "WAI Interest Group list" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>, "HTML WG" <public-html@w3.org> Subject Re: User Testing of Accessiblity Features On 8/30/07, Alastair Campbell <ac@nomensa.com> wrote: > > Tighe K. Lory wrote: > > An example would be a stockphoto of a person ... > > Putting in alt text would just clutter up what the screen reader says, and > > I think make the site less useable. > > And my colleague Léonie would argue that if the image conveys something (even "just" emotive), then she would like to know it's there and what it is supposed to represent. > > That demonstrates the hard-core usability vs holistic experience divide quite nicely. I strongly opposed to that, because if you began to explain illustrative images (which generaly convey emotive, or mood informations), you will also have to explain the graphical choises of the website, because a website that uses sharp lines has not the same emotive sense that a website that uses round corners... So it leads directly to have alt even on CSS background images, because of emotion... -- Olivier G. http://www.lespacedunmatin.info/blog/ IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential or sensitive information which is, or may be, legally privileged or otherwise protected by law from further disclosure. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, please do not distribute, copy or use it or any attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this from your system. Thank you for your cooperation. IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential or sensitive information which is, or may be, legally privileged or otherwise protected by law from further disclosure. It is intended only for the addressee. If you received this in error or from someone who was not authorized to send it to you, please do not distribute, copy or use it or any attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this from your system. Thank you for your cooperation.
Received on Thursday, 30 August 2007 13:40:16 UTC