Re: rendering alt or title attributes

Neal Ewers wrote:
> 
>         Hello,
> 
> If a screen reader presents the user with information about a link
> containing alt-text by trapping for both the alt and the title attribute        s,
> which should it render to the user?

> One might assume that if the title attribute is used correctly and actually
> presents more information than the alt-text, that the title tag should be
> rendered instead.  But, there are always the odd situations where this
> would not work.  See, for example, the URL to the W3C Slide maker Tool at
> http://www.w3.org/Talks/slidemaker/YYMMsub/Overview.html
> Click on "Introduction and you will find that the alt-text presents the
> "Previous" and "Next" options while the title tag gives the title of the
> next slide (ex. "On to 'title_of_next_slide'" and "Back to
> 'title_of_previous_slide'").  In this case, because it is a good example of
> the use of the title attribute, if the user agent is simply rendering the
> title tags, no information is lost. What would happen, however, if the
> title attribute only included the title of the next and previous slides? In
> this case, navigation function would be lost if the user agent did not
> render the alt-text.
> 
> Does this speak to having a user preference for selecting which is
> rendered, or is there some more appropriate solution here?

Hi Neal,

First of all, the UA Guidelines require (checkpoint 2.1
in the 20 December draft [0])
that the user have access to all content, 
including all alt and title text. Beyond
that requirement, there are techniques for making this
information available. From the 20 December Techniques [1]:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
Users should be able to:
        Configure what information about links they wish presented to
them. 
</BLOCKQUOTE>

There is also information about providing alternative informtion
(alt, title, etc.). Please review this section of the Techniques
document - we welcome your comments and suggestions.

 - Ian


[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-WAI-USERAGENT-19991220
[2]
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-WAI-USERAGENT-TECHS-19991220/#link-techniques
 
> Thanks for your comments.
> 
> Neal Ewers
> Trace Research and Development Center
> 5901 Research Park Blvd.
> Madison, WI 53719
> Phone: (608) 263-5485
> FAX: (608) 262-8848
> E-mail:  ewers@tracecenter.org
> Web site: http://www.trace.wisc.edu

-- 
Ian Jacobs (jacobs@w3.org)   http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs
Tel/Fax:                     +1 212 684-1814
Cell:                        +1 917 450-8783

Received on Monday, 27 December 1999 11:23:27 UTC