Re: WCAG 2.0 Test Suite

> I have a concern with regard to one of the alt text criteria: the one
> that requires that images within links have real (not null) alt text.
>
Good comment. But can we hold off on discussion of that test until we finish
the current ones?

Chris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Bohman" <paulb@cc.usu.edu>
To: "Chris Ridpath" <chris.ridpath@utoronto.ca>
Cc: "WAI WCAG List" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 2:23 PM
Subject: Re: WCAG 2.0 Test Suite


>
> Chris Ridpath wrote:
> > The test suite for the WCAG 2.0 is now available for public viewing at:
> > http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/
> >
> > Please take a look and post your comments to this list.
>
> I have a concern with regard to one of the alt text criteria: the one
> that requires that images within links have real (not null) alt text. If
> the only thing in the link is an image, then this is a good criterion.
> However, if there is both an image and text in the link, I think it
> could go either way, depending on the context.
>
> For example, some people put an image or icon with text next to it.
> Oftentimes the text is, in essence, alternative text for the image. The
> image might be an icon of an envelope, and the text might be "email",
> for instance. Both would be inside the same set of <a> tags. It wouldn't
> make sense to have a "meaningful" alt attribute for the image, I don't
> think, in this case. It would make more sense to have a null alt
attribute.
>
> Now, you could probably come up with some other way of doing things. For
> example, you could use a background image using CSS, rather than a
> standard <img> tag. Or you could put only the text within the <a> tags,
> but this leads to possible usability issues, where the person tries to
> click on the icon, but nothing happens.
>
> In the end, I think we have to account for the possibility of having
> both text and an image in a link, with the image not needing a
> meaningful alt attribute.
>
>
> -- 
> Paul Bohman
> Director of Products and Services
> WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
> www.webaim.org
> Utah State University
> www.usu.edu
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 1 December 2004 20:00:07 UTC