RE: Thoughts on professional portrait (headshot) images?

What is the purpose of a headshot? Why do we put it on a webpage or document?


  *   Is it purely decorative? Are we saying people really don't want to know what the person looks like? Someone quickly needing contact information on person doesn't want to hear a description.


  *   Is it informative? Are we saying people do want to know what the person looks like? I work in education and am often told distance learning students want to see pictures of their faculty to get a mental image while they take their courses.

In this discussion, it sounds like many people have made the decision for the people viewing the webpage. My concern is if we are taking an option away by assuming people don't want to know, there is no way to bring it back for the people who do want to know.

Yes, the description is longer than saying a name, but if you start off the alternative text with "[John Doe] is described as...", you can tell screen reader users (1) who is in the picture and (2) that a description of the person is coming up that they can skip if they want to. This gives the viewer the choice on what they want and makes the experience equitable.

Karole Schroeder, CPACC
Electronic and Information Resources Accessibility Coordinator
Office of Information Security
Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
6300 Ocean Dr., Corpus Christi, TX 78412
P 361.825.3154 | E karole.schroeder@tamucc.edu<mailto:karole.schroeder@tamucc.edu>
[Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi]

From: Hickey, Casey <ca.hickey@northeastern.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2022 9:22 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Thoughts on professional portrait (headshot) images?

Hello WAI-IG,

I've been giving some thought to whether headshot images should include alt text, especially when they're adjacent to the pictured individual's name.

I've seen some opinions that say the image is meaningful because it's conveying an impression. I also recognize that adding alt text to a series of profiles like this could weigh down the screen reader experience with seemingly redundant information.

I'm leaning toward the latter, but I'd like to hear opinions/perspective from the group, or any information that there's a standard/codified best practice here.

WAI's examples for Informative Images<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2FWAI%2Ftutorials%2Fimages%2Finformative%2F&data=05%7C01%7CKarole.Schroeder%40tamucc.edu%7Cdee668b36dcd4987cfb608da82043bf3%7C34cbfaf167a64781a9ca514eb2550b66%7C0%7C0%7C637965251974833605%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=mHQmAqGMrSjUCILz3%2BfewJiFXmng4NwTT37Rot4MyuU%3D&reserved=0> and Decorative Images<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2FWAI%2Ftutorials%2Fimages%2Fdecorative%2F&data=05%7C01%7CKarole.Schroeder%40tamucc.edu%7Cdee668b36dcd4987cfb608da82043bf3%7C34cbfaf167a64781a9ca514eb2550b66%7C0%7C0%7C637965251974833605%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KGuQeIjtW%2BCb1HDLfdKIYNHEX%2BiYq7ulgO190x9HHYY%3D&reserved=0> both come close, but neither directly address this use case.

w3.org's People directory<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2FPeople&data=05%7C01%7CKarole.Schroeder%40tamucc.edu%7Cdee668b36dcd4987cfb608da82043bf3%7C34cbfaf167a64781a9ca514eb2550b66%7C0%7C0%7C637965251974833605%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KMhHbnQVaZt2TddjEbcBczdG8c56fBsERc1t64FUUBg%3D&reserved=0> uses "Photo of [first name] [last name]" as its alt text, which leads me to second-guess my instinct here.

Thank you for any thoughts.

Casey Hickey
Digital Accessibility Manager
Information Technology Services
Northeastern University