[Bug 13449] New: Don't allow blank alt text on area elements

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=13449

           Summary: Don't allow blank alt text on area elements
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: PC
               URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-html5-20110525/the-map-el
                    ement.html#the-area-element
        OS/Version: Windows XP
            Status: NEW
          Keywords: a11y, a11ytf
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML5 spec (editor: Ian Hickson)
        AssignedTo: ian@hixie.ch
        ReportedBy: cooper@w3.org
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    public-html@w3.org, public-html-a11y@w3.org


The description of <area> states "The alt attribute may be left blank if there
is another area element in the same image map that points to the same resource
and has a non-blank alt attribute." While there is a procedure later in the
spec that details how user agents should handle this situation (looking for
other <area> elements referencing the same target and retrieving the alt text
for those), the HTML accessibility task force does not believe that user agents
will go to those lengths, based on input from UA developers in the task force.
A situation where alt text is sometimes required and sometimes not also leads
to a high probability of author error. Therefore this provision should be
removed.

Edit details:

* Remove the sentence "The alt attribute may be left blank if there is another
area element in the same image map that points to the same resource and has a
non-blank alt attribute." from
http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-html5-20110525/the-map-element.html#the-area-element
* Remove step 2 in the second numbered list "Remove all the area elements in
areas that have no alt attribute, or whose alt attribute's value is the empty
string, if there is another area element in areas with the same value in the
href attribute and with a non-empty alt attribute." from
http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-html5-20110525/the-map-element.html#processing-model

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Received on Friday, 29 July 2011 13:58:57 UTC