Re: Your thoughts on updated "Icon Font with an On-Screen Text Alternative" Technique

After the discussion at the LVTF this week I am really think that Icon
Fonts are just icons, images. None really have the same definitive meaning
as alphanumeric characters or punctuation symbols. They have no precise
definition like mathematical symbols. Icon fonts are really non-text
content. They are mapped to character sets for convenience, but they are
just pictures.

Laura, I think your techniques are  a good start. Pictures require text
alternatives, and your code is one way to do that. Removing them from the
audio flow to prevent silly or incorrect text associated with icon font
characters, and then inserting the correct words seems exactly right.

Wayne



On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 12:35 PM, Laura Carlson <laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com
> wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> Thank you for checking the technique and for your offer to help
> wordsmith. Much appreciated.
>
> Kindest regards,
> Laura
>
> On 7/29/16, Rochford, John <john.rochford@umassmed.edu> wrote:
> > Hi Laura,
> >
> > I agree that description is more clear. I can help you wordsmith it
> later.
> >
> > Thank you for your work on this.
> >
> > John
> >
> > John Rochford<http://profiles.umassmed.edu/profiles/display/132901>
> > UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center
> > Director, INDEX Program
> > Instructor, Family Medicine & Community Health
> > www.DisabilityInfo.org
> > Twitter: @ClearHelper<https://twitter.com/clearhelper>
> >
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> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Laura Carlson [mailto:laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com]
> > Sent: Friday, July 29, 2016 7:30 AM
> > To: Low Vision Task Force <public-low-vision-a11y-tf@w3.org>
> > Subject: Your thoughts on updated "Icon Font with an On-Screen Text
> > Alternative" Technique
> >
> > Hello Everyone,
> >
> > Thank you so very much for our discussion yesterday [1].
> >
> > I updated the description for the "Icon Font with an On-Screen Text
> > Alternative" [1] technique trying to incorporate ideas from our
> > meeting. It now reads:
> >
> > <quote>
> >
> > The objective of this technique is to show how to provide a visible,
> > text alternative for an icon font that conveys information.
> > Icon fonts are fonts that use the Private Use Area (PUA) of Unicode.
> >
> > Typically they are inserted in HTML via the CSS @font-face declaration
> > and generated content property. Since they are vectors they are
> > scalable and resolution-independent.
> >
> > Icon fonts can have 2 problems:
> >
> > 1. Some people with disabilities may not use assistive technology (AT)
> > and rely on on-screen text alternatives.
> >
> > 2. For those who do use AT, voicing of icon fonts may be inaccurate,
> > nonsensical, redundant, or unpredictable.
> >
> > To solve these 2 problems aria-hidden="true" is used so AT will
> > ignored the icon. Then an on-screen text alternative is added to
> > convey meaning to everyone.
> >
> > <unquote>
> >
> > Thoughts? Is that clearer? Suggestions for improved verbiage?
> >
> > In addition, I added a definition section to the document per Andrew's
> > suggestion of having an icon font definition. If anyone knows of
> > better definitions please let me know and I can revise that section.
> > The ones I found are very informal.
> >
> > Thank you.
> > Kindest Regards,
> >
> > Laura
> >
> > [1] https://www.w3.org/2016/07/28-lvtf-minutes.html
> > [2]
> >
> https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Icon_Font_with_an_On-Screen_Text_Alternative
> > --
> > Laura L. Carlson
>
>