mixed results with screen readers and alt

Hello:

>I will quote both David and Patrick, for clarity.
My comments begin with JS.




> > From: david poehlman
>[...]
> > In reality, for some reason, you can also still get the image
> > name when
> > either alt="" or alt=" " are used.
>
>JS: To follow on from David's previous message (in the alt descriptions 
>discussion), where he suggested, as an example alt="***", I don't think 
>that'd be an ideal solution.  Asterisks might speak, I should think, 
>depending upon a user's settings with a screen reader.


>Patrick wrote: Isn't that a shortcoming of the user agent and/or assistive
>technology? Should it be the page author's responsibility to find
>(dis)ingenious solutions to this?

>JS:  Yes, Patrick, I couldn't agree with you more.  I am more and more 
>concerned that User Agents (specifically screen readers in my case) seem 
>to be providing confusing results.  It is causing confusion to developers 
>who are less experienced, but are still thinking they should test with 
>screen readers.




>Patrick: Out of interest, which browser/AT does this happen in?

JS:  Yes, has anyone made a study of this, and if so, could specifics be 
shared, perhaps under a different subject heading?  I happen to be 
struggling with this issue right now.  I have a serious philosophical 
problem with designing to one User Agent i.e. screen reader.

Received on Tuesday, 21 December 2004 15:35:13 UTC