Re: HTML Action Item 54 - ...draft text for HTML 5 spec to require producers/authors to include @alt on img elements.

On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
>
>   <div>Pepper is ampersand low-gravity hair bumper.</div>
>
> ...is not accessible at all, to anyone.

I'd contend it's highly accessible (plain text in a div), but nobody
will comprehend the meaning behind it. This probably seems a useless
distinction, but if the above were authored as an image without alt
text then it would not be 'accessible' to all.

I know WAI - for good reasons - has a very broad definition of
'accessibility' that includes the 'understand' angle [1]. I just think
that degree of 'accessibility' is largely beyond the scope of HTML,
and in this WG we should focus on ensuring that HTML itself, and the
content it marks up, are accessible (as in "available" to user agents
and assistive technology). Which I think we are doing ...

[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php