Re: Proposed adaptive image element

Hi Mat,

> With the above in mind I’d love to discuss the next steps in working towards
> a specification, and keep our momentum up. There was mention of filing a bug
> to have this proposal officially entered into the WG system — is that our
> next course of action?

Filing a bug is step one in the HTML Working Group decision process.
http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy-v2.html

With regard to accessibility two things that may be worth consideration:

1. The possibility of responsive text alternatives that could parallel
the responsive images if needed. The <picture> proposal allows for
different sources for images at different sizes. But authors could use
different images at different sizes and not just a cropped down
version of a single image. No text alternative mechanism is provided
for that use case. Allowing alt on <source> could provide for that use
case. Something like the following might work:

<picture>
<source src="mobile.jpg  alt="text alternative">
<source src="medium.jpg"  alt="text alternative" media="min-width: 600px">
<source src="fullsize.jpg"  alt="text alternative" media="min-width: 900px">
<img src="mobile.jpg" alt="text alternative">
</picture>

2. A picture element could allow for semantic programmatically
determinable in-page rich text long description, if a description
element was added to the proposal:

<picture>
<img src="image.jpg" alt="text alternative">
<desc>structured rich text description with headings, lists, tables, etc.</desc>
</picture>

Best Regards,
Laura

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Mathew Marquis <mat@matmarquis.com> wrote:
> HTML WG,
>
> I wanted to check-in with you guys briefly on the status of the RICG’s
> proposal, and update you on a few recent developments with regards to the
> proposed `picture` element:
>
> A few vendors have expressed an interest in prototyping a native
> implementation of the `picture` element in the near future. With so much
> discussion surrounding this topic I’m concerned that there’s still a great
> deal left open to interpretation, even with the proposal codified at
> http://www.w3.org/community/respimg/wiki/Picture_Element_Proposal and
> detailed at
> http://www.w3.org/community/respimg/2012/06/18/florians-compromise/
>
> Further: the Drupal team is currently discussing the inclusion of the
> `picture` element in Drupal 8 core, along with the speculative polyfill we
> developed here at Filament Group ( http://drupal.org/node/1170478 ). I
> posted that I didn’t recommend the use of `picture` prior to a specification
> or native implementation ( http://drupal.org/node/1170478#comment-6248598 )
> and that they might consider the related `div`-based script that replicates
> the native behavior, for the time being. It does seem that some of the
> decision-makers involved are still leaning towards the `picture` element
> itself ( https://twitter.com/attiks/statuses/225636567618818048 , for
> example ).
>
> I worry that implementors and the developer community alike, having seen a
> clear need and use for this element as proposed, are considering
> implementing and using it preemptively. My fear is that either party doing
> so before a specification has been solidified could result in competing
> implementations, and broken production sites.
>
> With the above in mind I’d love to discuss the next steps in working towards
> a specification, and keep our momentum up. There was mention of filing a bug
> to have this proposal officially entered into the WG system — is that our
> next course of action?  Also, any information I could relay back to the RICG
> and interested parties would be hugely appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
> Mat Marquis



-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 11:49:28 UTC