RE: Two links (Image and Text) side by side - was Re: Another question about JAWS 4.01 rendering

I'm sorry that I missed the beginning of this thread because it is one on my
favorite topics. The issue is an image next to text with both being links to
the same URL. It raises a problem that crops up so often and usually can't
simply be solved. www.ibm.com is mentioned below, but not as described. They
have alt text on the image which the same as the text of the image. So a
blind user has to hear "link online savings link online savings" ... which
is annoying.

You can not put alt="" on the image because it is a link and will show up in
lists of links and in the tab order with no text. No good. Inadequate link
text.

The simple solution is to include both the image and the text in the SAME
anchor and then put alt="" on the image, because then indeed the image is
completely redundant. That is a good solution.

The problem is that that solution almost never works because the image and
text are almost surely to be in separate table cells and the anchor can't
span those.

I have not even heard a suggestion of how to solve this problem. It is one
of the rare cases where a real solution requires significant redesign of the
page. My recommendation is always to be use the repetitive text.

While we are on favorite topics, alt=quote space quote is mentioned below,
and I strongly believe that is never correct.

Jim
jim@jimthatcher.com
Accessibility Consulting
http://jimthatcher.com
512-306-0931

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
Behalf Of Al Gilman
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 6:00 PM
To: goliver@accease.com; jm.damour@camo.qc.ca
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Re: Two links (Image and Text) side by side - was Re: Another
question about JAWS 4.01 rendering


At 04:05 PM 2002-02-21 , goliver@accease.com wrote:
>However, perhaps a better solution would need to be
>found?
>

I think we should.

Compare with

 <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/wai-tech-comments/2001May/thread.html
#0>http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/wai-tech-comments/2001May/thread.html
#0

(whole thread)

Al

>Hi Jean-Marie
>I confirmed this behaviour when the *image is a link*.
>
>This has interesting consequences for the sort of
>design where there are two links side by side to the
>same place (an image link and a text link),to aid
>people who may prefer image navigation.
>
>I think the IBM site (as an example) chose to have
>alt="" for the image in order not to have the same link
>text read out twice in a row.
>However, perhaps a better solution would need to be
>found?
>
>I don't like using alt = " " on an image as a link
>because when you mouseover you get a little box, which
>can be confusing!
>
>For clarification when the image is *not* a link alt=""
>does *not* read the name of the image.
>
>Cheers
>Graham
>
>On Mon, 18 February 2002, jm.damour@camo.qc.ca wrote
>
>>
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> In JAWS 4.01, for an image with a null alt text
>(alt=""), JAWS read the name
>> of the image. If  alt is alt=" ", JAWS don't read the
>name.
>>
>> I think it is a result wich can surprise many Web
>designers.
>>
>> Jean-Marie D'Amour, M.Ed.
>> CAMO pour personnes handicapées
>> <http://www.camo.qc.ca/>www.camo.qc.ca
>> Montréal, Québec, Canada
>
>AccEase Ltd : Making on-line information accessible
>Phone : +64 9 846 6995
>Email : goliver@accease.com
>

Received on Thursday, 21 February 2002 21:04:38 UTC