RE: Alt text should identify image class when relevant

Hi Steve,

 

I think that the bug has a somewhat legitimate issue, but I also agree with
your assessment. For example, if all we had was:

 

     <img src="logo.png" alt="logo: W3C"> 

 

.it would be correct (note that I personally am a huge fan of the prefixing
of alt values, such as the "logo:" here, but also note that consistency is
trump)

 

However, if that same image was now also a link:

 

     <a href=http://w3.org><img src="logo.png" alt="logo: W3C"></a>

 

.then the initial alt text would be wrong: the link *does not take me to the
logo* (a common occurrence with CMS tools such as WordPress), but rather the
W3C site. I would reject the bug as incorrect.

 

While I agree that the image is still the logo, the fact that it is also a
link to the W3C site is over-riding the fact that it is a logo. In many
ways, this is also an editorial question, which is very hard to answer as
different organizations often have their own internal editorial standards. 

 

<opinion>

If the content author really wanted to convey that this is also a logo (i.e.
declare 2 facts about this page element) then they *might* also consider the
slightly wordier: <img src="logo.png" alt="logo: W3C, links to main site">
as a possible option (thoughts?)

</opinion>

 

JF

 

 

From: Steve Faulkner [mailto:faulkner.steve@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 2:00 AM
To: HTMLWG WG
Cc: HTML Accessibility Task Force
Subject: bug: Alt text should identify image class when relevant

 

Hi all, 



any thoughts on this bug would be appreciated:

 <https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23207> Bug 23207 - Alt text
should identify image class when relevant

The particular case that is being called out is when there is an logo that
is the sole content of a link, and thus the alt text is the link text:

code example[1]

<a href="http://w3.org">
  <img src="images/w3c_home.png" width="72" height="48" alt="W3C web site">
  </a>

the bug reporter is suggesting that because the image is a logo this
information should be included in the text.

My thinking is that as the primary purpose of the image in the context it is
being used is as link content, the alt text should be a brief description of
the link target only.

[1]http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/embedded-content-0.html#a-li
nk-or-button-containing-nothing-but-an-image

 

any thoughts?


--

Regards

SteveF

HTML 5.1 <http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/>