- From: Patrick H. Lauke <redux@splintered.co.uk>
- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:53:31 +0100
- To: tanguy lohéac <tanguy.loheac@snv.jussieu.fr>
- CC: general WAI-TIES MAILING LIST <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
tanguy lohéac wrote: > Hi all, > Just to ask if the w3c considers links to mp3 files as a standard > recommended format ? Unless I'm misunderstanding the question, I'd hazard a guess that the answers would be: MP3 is not a W3C technology; however, there is no equivalent format from the W3C that serves that purpose; this shoots down "11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task". Therefore, following "11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page" you should ideally provide an alternative in a W3C format. What this alternative format is will depend on the nature of the MP3. If it's an audio version of a talk/presentation (a "podcast", though I hate this term "du jour"), you should for instance provide a web page - (X)HTML/CSS/etc) - with a transcript. Now, it obviously gets trickier if you're providing something like a piece of classical music...in a similar vein to choosing a good ALT attribute, you should think about the purpose of the audio file, why you're linking to it, and let that guide you to some sort of alternative. P -- Patrick H. Lauke __________________________________________________________ re·dux (adj.): brought back; returned. used postpositively [latin : re-, re- + dux, leader; see duke.] www.splintered.co.uk | www.photographia.co.uk http://redux.deviantart.com __________________________________________________________ Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force http://webstandards.org/ __________________________________________________________
Received on Thursday, 13 October 2005 17:53:47 UTC