Re: LONGDESC: some current problems and a proposed solution added to the wiki

Ben Boyle wrote:
> HTML 5 draft currently proposes:
> 1. <img> with @alt (currently does not include @longdesc)
> 2. <object> - same as HTML4

We should probably also include <input type="image" alt=""> in this list.

> 3. <embed> with NO fallback mechanism

It is questionable whether embed needs to have fallback content, like 
img does.  Since it is for embedding content for plugins, ideally the 
content itself and plugin would be made accessibile to the user.  In the 
case of Flash, for example, I believe it is possible to make it 
accessible and there is no need for alternative content to be provided 
for accessibility reasons.

Although, it may be desirable to provide an alternative HTML version for 
users who don't have Flash or just really hate using it, those reasons 
are unrelated to accessibility.  If people wish to discuss this issue, I 
recommend starting a separate thread and start looking at ways in which 
people already provide such alternatives.

> 4. <video> and <audio> with (HTML) fallback derived from content

Note that the spec states that "User agents should not show this 
fallback content to the user."  The fallback in this case is designed 
for legacy user agents that do not support those elements, so that the 
author can, for example, either embed the file using <object> or link to 
the file for the user to download and play separately.

Ideally, video would be made accessible by itself.  Captions for the 
deaf or hearing impaired, and audio descriptions for the blind or vision 
impaired.  Although, I'm not sure how it could be made accessible to 
someone who is both deaf and blind.

Making audio accessible to someone who is deaf depends on what type of 
audio it is.  For audio that is predominately dialogue, providing a 
transcript would be sufficient. [1]  But since a transcript may be 
useful to others as well, not just the deaf, providing it in the page 
itself or linking to it with an ordinary link would be appropriate.

[1] http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter13.html#h1-3090

-- 
Lachlan Hunt
http://lachy.id.au/

Received on Sunday, 1 July 2007 08:28:57 UTC