RE: the text in images issue [was: errata...]

At 12:19 PM -0500 12/15/00, Bailey, Bruce wrote:
>Yes, I understand and agree that images should be paired with words.  This
>is a fundamental concept in transitioning symbol-oriented users of
>Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to literacy.  This isn't
>really the argument.

I think our main problem is the following:

(a) Textual graphics are a barrier to people who require the ability
     to magnify text.

(b) Alt text is generally considered sufficient to remove the barrier
     to access for people who can't see an image.

(c) Using the alt text for those images -would- be sufficient to
     allow access, BUT:

(d) To access the alt text, the user needs to disable ALL images on
     a page, which is less than optimal for web users who need to
     magnify text but who can otherwise see graphics.

(e) The clear solution is that there needs to be a way to designate
     certain images as being those that should be -replaced- if
     resized, while others as not being replaced.

There does not seem to be a way to do this in HTML or CSS at present.
This whole argument is basically caused by a huge gaping hole in
the markup languages used to create web pages.

So, if we were going to reinvent HTML, how would we solve the problem?
Perhaps an attribute related to resizing, which would then be
recognized by browsers?  Maybe a CSS property?  Something else?
I'm not sure what the solution is, but I think there may be a way
to overcome this problem.  (Using SVG is not, right now, a solution...)

--Kynn
-- 
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@idyllmtn.com>
http://www.kynn.com/

Received on Friday, 15 December 2000 12:58:55 UTC