- From: Bruce Bailey <bbailey@clark.net>
- Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:12:32 -0500
- To: "'Wendy A Chisholm'" <wendy@w3.org>
- Cc: "w3c-wai-gl@w3.org" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>, "w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org" <w3c-wai-er-ig@w3.org>
I think alt="" MIGHT need to be treated differently than alt=" " (or alt=" " [or alt=" "]) because alt="" makes images (and any link) disappear from text-only browsers. On Tuesday, December 07, 1999 12:50 PM, Wendy A Chisholm [SMTP:wendy@w3.org] wrote: > Phil and Charles, > I have reworked my proposal. does this cover your suggestions and questions? > > <proposal> > 1. Flag images with: > * the IMG attribute alt="", alt=" ", and alt=" " (or alt=" ") > * OBJECT (of type="image/gif" or "image/png" etc.) that has no text content. > (Note that OBJECTs of other types should be handled elsewhere in the ERT > document.) > > 2. If the image is part of a link that has text (e.g., <a > href="home.html"><img src="button.gif" alt=" ">Refer to our home page</a>) > this is o.k. 2b. What about when the image is part of link that does NOT have text (e.g, <a href="home.html"><img src="button.gif" alt=""></a> OR <a href="home.html"><img src="button.gif" alt=""></a>? Is this kind of thing ALWAYS flagged -- which I think it should be. If I missed consensus on this, I apologize. > 3. If the image is not part of a link, query the author for the use of the > image. > > 3a. If the author identifies the image as a space between words and those > words should not be separated, advise them to use (or alt=" ") > instead of an image. > > 3b. If the image is a space that is used to format the layout of text, > advise them to use style sheets, IMG alt=" ", or spaces in the content of > OBJECT. > > 3c. If the author indicates the image has a function, advise the author to > provide a functional text equivalent and if necessary a longer description. > > 3d. If the image is purely decorative and has no meaning to the content of > the page, advise them to provide either brief descriptive text, that they > handle it as a "space" (see 3b), and suggest that they may also want to > provide a longer description of the image (on IMG with the "longdesc" > attribute or as text in the content of OBJECT). > > Exceptions to this rule are image effects that could be created with style > sheets, such as graphical list bullets. Advise authors to use style sheets. > (See examples in the WCAG 1.0 Techniques document). > </proposal> > > How does an author know when to do what for 3d? > > An example situation. I have a page where My Company's logo is displayed > several times. The first use is a link to our home page. The text content > is, "My Company's home page." I'm very proud of how detailed we made the > logo, so I provide a longer description of it. On the bottom of the page > we provide a row of the logos - the same image over and over again. It's a > branding presentation effect. The first logo has the text equivalent "My > Company" the rest have a space. I do describe the effect for my friends who > used to have sight because I think I can describe it well enough for them > to form a mental image. > > This is the "extremely friendly" version. > > the "basic" would be: > I have a page where My Company's logo is displayed several times. The > first use is a link to our home page. The text content is, "My Company's > home page." On the bottom of the page we provide a row of the logos - the > same image over and over again. It's a branding presentation effect. They > all have a space for a text equivalent. > > I don't see a clear algorithm for how to walk an author through the > decisions. Ideas? > > --w For this example, subsequent alt="" might be okay, but even better would be to repeat the alt or perhaps substitute alt="..." -- just so text browsers generate the same annoying effect! -- Bruce Bailey
Received on Tuesday, 7 December 1999 19:04:23 UTC