- From: Gregory J. Rosmaita <oedipus@hicom.net>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:40:47 -0400
- To: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>
- Cc: public-html@w3.org
Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com> Maciej Stachowiak wrote, quote: ALT should not be required either. It leads to pointless alt="" on images that have no reasonable text equivalent, just to satisfy conformance checkers. And that is actively harmful, because AT can't tell the difference between a semantically null image and a semantically meaningful image with no text alternative. unquote again, this is a confusion between poor authoring practices, rather than a problem with either the alt attribute or the summary attribute... quote it isn't up to the AT to determine quote the difference between a semantically null image and a semantically meaningful image with no text alternative. unquote no, it is up to the author slash authoring tool to provide MEANINGFUL alt text, and for the AT to render that alt text, whether or not image loading is turned on or off... bottom line: 1) the "alt" attribute MUST be maintained as a required attribute to purely graphical content 2) the "summary" attribute MUST be maintained as a required attribute for TABLE -------------------------------------------------------------- DISCUSSION, n. A method of confirming others in their errors. -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary -------------------------------------------------------------- Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/ -------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Original Message ----------- From: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com> To: "Gregory J. Rosmaita" <oedipus@hicom.net> Cc: Lachlan Hunt <lachlan.hunt@lachy.id.au>, public-html@w3.org Sent: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:08:53 -0700 Subject: Re: fear of "invisible metadata" > On Jun 18, 2007, at 10:24 AM, Gregory J. Rosmaita wrote: > > > > > Lachlan Hunt wrote, quote: > >> No, even if the summary attribute were added to HTML5, it > >> certainly shouldn't be required. > > unquote > > > > why not? CAPTION is akin to ALT text - it provides a terse > > description > > of the object that cannot be visually perceived; the summary attribute > > itself serves the same purpose as LONGDESC (which provides a detailed > > description, orientational material, etc.) > > ALT should not be required either. It leads to pointless alt="" > on images that have no reasonable text equivalent, just to > satisfy conformance checkers. And that is actively harmful, > because AT can't tell the difference between a semantically > null image and a semantically meaningful image with no text alternative. > > Regards, > Maciej ------- End of Original Message -------
Received on Sunday, 24 June 2007 17:40:58 UTC