Re: Adaptive Image Element Proposal

On Fri, 31 Aug 2012 23:07:58 +0200, John Foliot <john@foliot.ca> wrote:

> Charles McCathie Nevile wrote
>>
>> On Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:14:06 +0200, Steve Faulkner
>> <faulkner.steve@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > As previously discussed and bugged I do not support the addition of
>> an
>> > alt attribute to the picture element.
>> [...]
>> I agree. I am not a fan of the alt attribute as the way to incorporate
>> alternative content, and would prefer to see a model like object or
>> video.
>
> Not looking to further muddy the water here, but graphic assets require  
> both an AccessibleName and an AccessibleDescription.

Yes, I agree (and made that assumption in my suggestion).

> Without the means to signal both texts to Screen Readers

(and others...)

> (as well as the additional requirement of making the longer textual
> description something that the end-user requests, rather than having
> forced upon them)

Agree that this is also a required capability for a substantial  
description. Sometimes it will be relevant to a particular case, sometimes  
not. But it needs to be possible, and should work through a standard  
mechanism that can be "programatically determined" - i.e. that a piece of  
software can reliably recognise.

> I wonder aloud how Steve's suggestion addresses these needs?
>
> <picture>
> This is the text alternative
> <img alt="">
> </picture>

As far as I can tell, it doesn't. It doesn't preclude using  
aria-describedby, although having something that forces the text to be  
flattened through an API isn't a very good way to meet the end user  
requirement. It doesn't preclude adding an explicitly designated linking  
attribute, which is my preferred solution.

The proposed change does address the atomic question of whether an alt  
attribute is a good way to incorporate a functional text equivalent to a  
media object in a new element - the answer is "no" - it remains silent on  
how to provide a longer description.

cheers

Chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - Consultant (web standards) CTO Office, Yandex
       chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Friday, 31 August 2012 22:14:17 UTC