RE: webwatch-l What To Do About .gif Files

	Chuck's concern about whether  a  "free service will pay someone
to read
>  and type in the thousands of lines of text that appear in the
> coupons?"
> 
	was previously addressed  when Al wrote "The text defining the
business offer
	  	needs to be captured on the way into the image, not as
the image
	  	is reduced to a GIF.":


	In other words, someone typed the contents already when they
made the coupon.  They were likely using an object oriented drawing
program, so at that point they could cut and paste it into the LONGDESC
without re-typing.

	Or better yet,  a comphrehensive authoring package that had
communication between the drawing program and the program handling the
HTML would do this automatically.  Alternatively, this could be done in
an authoring package that integrated drawing and HTML, but I think  it
would be better to establish standard communication between authoring
components instead of tying them inextricably together.  An example,
perhaps, of the high powered technology that David mentioned

	I think this is important because in general, all the text in a
gif should be in the ALT text unless there's a really good reason to not
do so, and I find this is very seldom done.

	A problem, by the way, could be reading order: if there are
several text blocks in the image.  Which one would be read out first?

	Also, if the ALT text and LONGDESC were part of the image
header, it would simplfy the bookeeping, but that's another discussion.

	Len

Opinions my own, not necessarily those of my employer.
====================================
kasday@att.com         phone 732 949 2693

Leonard R. Kasday
Room 1L-333
AT&T Laboratories
101 Crawfords Corner Rd.
Holmdel NJ 07733

	The history of this discussion follows. 


> ----------
> From: 	David Poehlman[SMTP:poehlman@clark.net]
> Sent: 	Wednesday, November 26, 1997 8:49 AM
> To: 	Charles (Chuck) Oppermann
> Subject: 	RE: webwatch-l What To Do About .gif Files
> 
> with all the high powered technology around, it is not inconcievable
> that
> the coupons could be readily turned into something useable by those
> who
> need text to understand them.  after, we are talking about advertising
> of
> a sort here right?
> 
> 
> On Tue, 25 Nov 1997, Charles (Chuck) Oppermann wrote:
> 
> > Step back for a moment and ask yourself - "Why do they use an image
> in the
> > first place?"  It's apparent to me that the image of the coupon is
> taken
> > directly from the electronic pre-press the newspaper is using.
> > 
> > Does anyone honestly believe that a free service will pay someone to
> read
> > and type in the thousands of lines of text that appear in the
> coupons?
> > Especially since the newspaper has already paid someone to enter the
> > information initially into their pre-press system.
> > 
> > Looking at just one coupon for "Arco."  There are two maps, 4
> separate
> > coupons, 6 corporate logos and (I'm guessing here) over a hundred
> words.
> > That's just one entry that might have a lifetime of a week.
> > 
> > If LONGDESC= was available, in this case, no one would take the time
> > required to put the information in.  Access is not access if it's
> > prohibitive to implement.
> > 
> > Charles Oppermann
> > Active Accessibility, Microsoft Corporation
> > mailto:chuckop@microsoft.com http://microsoft.com/enable/
> > "A computer on every desk and in every home, usable by everyone!"
> > 
> > 	-----Original Message-----
> > 	From:	Al Gilman [SMTP:asgilman@access.digex.net]
> > 	Sent:	Tuesday, November 25, 1997 6:52 AM
> > 	To:	w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> > 	Cc:	kford@teleport.com
> > 	Subject:	Re: webwatch-l What To Do About .gif Files
> > 
> > 	to follow up on what Kelly Ford said:
> > 
> > 	> The Orange County Register, a newspaper out of Anaheim,
> > California, has a
> > 	> feature they call the Smart Coupon Book.  You can find the
> service
> > at
> > 	> 
> > 	> http://www.ocregister.com/ads/coupons/
> > 	> 
> > 	> and when you visit you will be able to search through a number
> of
> > coupons
> > 	> offered.  The service seems to work quite nicely with the
> browser
> > of your
> > 	> choice until it comes time to browse the actual coupons.  Each
> > coupon is a
> > 	> .gif file that I'm assuming contains a graphical version of
> > whatever the
> > 	> given company is offering.
> > 
> > 	[snip]
> > 
> > 	> Kelly Ford
> > 	> kford@teleport.com
> > 	> See my home page at http://www.teleport.com/~kford/index.html
> > 
> > 	ASG: If a coupon-clipping example were used as an illustration
> of
> > 	the new LONGDESC attribute, this would be a good explanation of
> > 	why the new attribute is needed and would get the
> > 	access-to-commerce issue before the web author community.
> > 
> > 	On a longer time horizon, this scenario is also a good one for
> > 	the Authoring Tool Guidelines team to consider.  These coupons
> > 	are worth very little money, and are normally produced with very
> > 	low-cost publishing setups.  The text defining the business
> offer
> > 	needs to be captured on the way into the image, not as the image
> > 	is reduced to a GIF.
> > 
> > 	-- Al Gilman
> > 	
> > 
> 
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> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 26 November 1997 11:17:52 UTC