another alt question

I've read with great interest the discussion regarding the purpose and
content of alt text.  So far, the emphasis has been on images that are
"decorative" or supplemental in some way to the main content of a page.

My question is this: what if the images _are_ the content--for example, a
photo gallery or artist's online portfolio?  My guess is that long desc
would be the way to go, but I'm not sure.

I'm currently working up a site for a friend who is a graphic artist (mostly
in the area of signage), and I've looked at several artists' pages in the
process. I've found, for the most part, that these pages don't concern
themselves with accessibility for the blind, the reasoning apparently being
that a blind user would have no interest in or use for graphic arts (a
position that I, of course, find questionable).

So I guess my question is really two-fold: Am I being excessive in insisting
that even a site that's predominantly visual in its purpose be accessible?
And what are your recommendations for alt and long desc content in this
particular case?

Thanks much
Leslie

Leslie K. Yoder
lkyoder@pacbell.net

Received on Monday, 18 February 2002 13:34:04 UTC