- From: Phill Jenkins <pjenkins@us.ibm.com>
- Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 10:55:50 -0500
- To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
The problem as I see it is that authors and users are confused by the various ways that user agents [browsers] and assistive technology render the title and alt attributes. Some users ask for it in a certain order because that is the order that their assistive technology renders it. Other users ask for it in a different order. Sighted users see it another way. Sighted users with graphics off see it another way. Lynx users see it another way. HPR users see it another way. I believe it is spec'd correctly alt is the alternative longdesc is the description title is additional information The user agent has the responsibility to render all three, but not necessarily at the same time. HPR's default renders the alt first, if no alt, it renders the title, if no title it renders the source URL. HPR will render the title in addition to the alt if the users asks for more information about the item; which is similar to a sighted user moving the mouse over the image to get additional information. Internet Explorer 4 I think and definitely 5 and above renders the title attribute as the tool tip first, if no title attribute, then it renders the alt attribute, if no alt attribute it doesn't render a tool tip. If the IE 5 users doesn't move the mouse over the item, no tool tip is rendered. It was reported to me that Mozilla (Netscape 5) only renders the title as the tool tip and never the alt attribute in a tool tip. I believe the Lynx browser should add a user interface method to allow the user to ask for more information about the item. I've heard the argument that the HPR or Lynx user may not know to ask for more information - that's true, but the sighted mouse user doesn't know to move the mouse over the item to get additional information either. It would be useful for the WCAG techniques and Education & Outreach working group to address all the various levels of support and recommend the best approach. I believe IE and HPR are two browsers that do it correctly per the HTML, WCAG, and UAAG specs. P.S. The is not the same as JavaScript mouse overs on links. Regards, Phill Jenkins IBM Research Division - Accessibility Center 11501 Burnet Rd, Austin TX 78758 http://www.ibm.com/able
Received on Thursday, 20 September 2001 11:57:02 UTC