FW: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Article on Updated F65

 

Folks,

 

Please see the note I wrote below concerning SSB's article interpreting the
newly updated F65. I am sure this is just one of many articles, but, this
was one of my concerns all along. It takes so very little for
mis-information to get spread around so quickly..

 

While this article has generally good information and recommendations, this
one aspect, not being specific that it only applies to images, in
communication, is going to cause so much heart-ache by saying."A primary
change is the allowance of new methods other than the alt attribute for
non-text elements (e.g. images)." And "Website teams now have greater
flexibility to provide text alternatives for non-text content."
Article URL:
<https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/>
https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/ 

 

The original email came into the our Accessibility Team office today from
another employee who gets SSB Bart news blasts...

 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 
Senior Accessibility SME (WCAG/Section 508/ADA/AODA)

 

Cell: 703-371-5545 |  <mailto:ryladog@gmail.com> ryladog@gmail.com | Oakton,
VA |  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieharitosshea/> LinkedIn Profile |
Office: 703-371-5545

 


Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 6:23 PM
Sender Removed
Subject: RE: Is the Alt Attribute Dead? - Please Review



 

Sigh...Yeah..No,

 

See, I knew this mis-understanding was coming, and I fought this - my
recommendation was to include alt for images *with* aria-labelledby
attribute (w/id), aria-label attribute and title - for a limited time period
(say 3 years), to drive ARIA uptake while providing full backwards
compatibility. I did have support for that idea, but, not by enough of the
right folks, so..

 

Please NOTE:  This failure is *ONLY* for images. The SSB article says
"non-text elements (e.g. images)", which is wrong. It is not 'an example of
one way' or 'such as' on images, it is only allowed for images AND only in
environments/situations where aria-labelledby(w/id)/aria-label/title are
proven to be accessibility supported. It is not intended for any other type
of non-text content.

 

This is the updated Failure:

F65: Failure of Success Criterion 1.1.1 due to omitting the alt attribute or
text alternative on img elements, area elements, and input elements of type
"image".
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/F65.html 

 

* katie *

 

Katie Haritos-Shea 

 

Sender Removed
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 1:49 PM
To: EC AccessibilityTeam
Subject: Is the Alt Attribute Dead?

 

 

  _____  

Is the Alt Attribute Dead?
<https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2014/04/08/is-the-alt-attribute-dead/> 

In March 2014 the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group
(WG) published several new ARIA techniques for WCAG 2 and updated several
failure techniques. A primary change is the allowance of new methods other
than the alt attribute for non-text elements (e.g. images). This post serves
to describe the change in position, its roots, and implications for use. A
New sufficient technique to promote ARIA for elements that don't support alt
The sufficient technique ARIA10 was created to provide an example [...]

SSB BART Group <https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog>  / Tue, 08 Apr 2014
14:27:03 GMT

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