Re: D-link and LONGDESC (GL type stuff)

Thanks, Charles. You thoroughly answered my original question. I have some
thoughts now about your following comments (and since you put them in this
list, I'm following suit):

CM::
>The neatest way of including a D-link, which I saw at WWW7 presented by 
>some ATRC folks from Toronto, was an image of the same height as the one 
>being described, of minimal width ( 1 pixel for example ) with ALT="D-link".

>Where images are not spaced (this can be specified) it would provide 
>clean pages for design-oriented authors who are loath to leave little 
>"D"s all over their pages, and a neat linking system that could be 
>understood by all browsers and folks.

SD::
The solution you mention above certainly addresses the aesthetics of having
little Ds all over the place, but it reminds me of other discussions here
about spacer GIFs being used as layout workarounds, and the general
consensus, as I understood it, that this was a "bad thing." 

To me, it seems encountering "D-Link" in the same list as "Home" or "About
Our Company" or "My Favorite Music" would soon become as universally
understood by the people who need it as "Home" is to anyone who wants to
return to the opening page of a web site. For those who take issue with the
extra work involved in including a D-link page for EACH page of a site, I
suggest the descriptive page itself could, in most cases, be one single
page in outline format (like a sitemap) containing descriptions of all
features not readily accessible to disabled users, its use further
annotated by inclusion of its mention in the ALT tag, i.e., ALT="XYZ
Corporation, D Link Home: #1" or something along those lines.

Example of a description page (the D-link) as I'm envisioning it:

"Descriptions for D-Links Contained Within XYZ Corporation"

Home Page:
1. Title Graphic: The letters X, Y and Z intertwined with one another
(blah, blah, blah)
2. Links Graphics: rectangular button shapes with raised text. This graphic
used throughout the site.
3. Photo of Corporate Office: (etcetera...)

Financial Page:
1. Line chart representing increased earnings of 30% in the last fiscal
quarter.
2. Sound file: Three women singing in the style of 1920s recording artists
to trumpet and  piano accompaniment, "We're In the Money" (followed by the
lyrics to the song)

And so on, and so forth.

As far as I know, browsers will necessarily limit the number of characters
that render in an ALT attribute, so I imagine this will also be true for
LONGDESC when it's widely supported. If this is so, how else could song
lyrics heard in a midi file be made accessible to a deaf person WITHOUT
resorting to a text-only or D-link page?

Thoughts?

Ree' Dolloff
mailto:averil@concentric.net

Received on Tuesday, 21 April 1998 07:20:49 UTC