RE: [techs] test 178 was Table Summary Tests (111, 112, 113, 114, 203)

I frequently urge clients to use alt="" (empty alt text) on images within
anchor tags which are accompanied with text also in the anchor tag. The
probability of error here is exactly the same as an image link with alt text
- the text might be inadequate. It seems to me this that this is a necessary
pass (alt="" in anchor including text).

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On Behalf
Of Chris Ridpath
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 9:37 AM
To: Johannes Koch; WAI-GL
Cc: Joe Clark; Gian Sampson-Wild
Subject: Re: [techs] test 178 was Table Summary Tests (111, 112, 113, 114,
203)


Our test 178 requires that all non decorative images, except those used as 
anchors, have alt text.
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/test178.html

Joe and others have suggested that you can set the alt text to null ("") if 
there is text immediately preceding or following the image that describes 
the image.
http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter06.html#h2-4840

It's common practice to display images with this sort of text. Here's one 
random example:
http://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/other/staff/
(In this example the alt attributes are missing and should be present.)

We've already recoginzed that duplicate alt text can be an accessibility 
problem with test 175 - alt text for anchor images is different from the 
link text:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/tests/test175.html

Should test 178 be modified to require (or at least allow) alt text to be 
null if text immediately preceeding or following the image describes the 
image?

Cheers,
Chris

Received on Tuesday, 23 August 2005 15:04:51 UTC