RE: Luminosity ratio question on images

From: Gregg Vanderheiden RTF <gregg@raisingthefloor.org>
Sent: 19 April 2021 14:41
To: Louise Lister <Louise.Lister@iop.org>
Cc: IG - WAI Interest Group List list <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Luminosity ratio question on images


On Apr 19, 2021, at 5:26 AM, Louise Lister <Louise.Lister@iop.org<mailto:Louise.Lister@iop.org>> wrote:



Hello,

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I have a quick question on where to draw the line with the luminosity ratio of images. There are a couple of scenarios on our website where we fail this check but, by the same token these could potentially be valid exceptions.


  1.  We have a series of awards/medals where the text is engraved in the medal. Each medal image accompanies some content about it. I include the text in the alt description but the medal itself would not pass the luminosity ratio test, because the text is effectively an engraved surface.
If I am understanding this — these are pictures - yes?   Photographs of objects?     Yes, they are!
Contrast requirements do not apply to photos.    Use alt text instead to convey text on image. Okay, perfect thank you, we are doing so.


  1.
  2.  We have a lengthy series of research reports where, next to some text containing the report name, description and download option, a small jpeg of the report front cover is included. The text is tiny (as a thumbnail), so even if it meets the luminosity ratiotest at the normal/larger size, it can’t possibly as a thumbnail (where it is marked as decorative). Also, the occasional report front cover does not meet the luminosity ratio even at the normal size once downloaded as a pdf, but that’s more to do with the production of the report than anything we have created for the website specifically, so it’s not something that I can change overnight, although I will look at it.

See above.  If image - just add alt text.  And if the report title is next to the image   I would make the ALT TEXT    “Thumbnail of the Report Cover”.   No need to add a long alt text that the blind reader would need to listen to if the title and text on the cover are not readable anyway.   Long ALT TEXTs with redundant information just slow down screen reader users without giving them any more information.   It IS important that they know that there is not information in the picture that they cannot get.  For example, an ALT TEXT  of “Picture of the report cover”  would leave the blind person wondering what was on the cover that they could not see.  Okay, perfect thanks! Yes, it’s a really long list of report CTAs with the front cover report title text, summary of contents and CTA in the text block next to it. I think repeating the title in the image and then in the text next to it would be annoying for screen reader users. It was annoying for me when I did .. 😊



  1.

Is it the case that you just accept that there are some scenarios that you can’t change? The other alternative is not having an image, but I can’t see that happening.

I have been using the WCAG contrast checker to help check the images on our website.

With kind regards,
Louise




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