FW: UAAG Comments On Alt Proposal

Hello,

This is the message I sent to fulfill my action around communicating our review on the alt text proposal.  If anyone feels I've inaccurately represented our position and discussions please advise and I will update the WAI CG.

This action is tracked at http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/tracker/actions/166.

Thanks,

Kelly

-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly Ford
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:00 PM
To: WAI CG
Subject: UAAG Comments On Alt Proposal

Hello,

The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines working group reviewed the proposal around alt text as it relates to HTML 5 and has the following comments:

1. UAAG has consensus that some short text replacement for images remains key for accessibility as outlined in the proposal.
2. UAAG has consensus that as worded the proposal is too complex and needs simplification to make the recommendation easier to follow.
3. UAAG *does not* have consensus that elimination of alt in any fashion for accessibility is the right direction.  We recognize that the proposal is not eliminating alt but believe that the proposal is indicating that there are other options that would, under this proposal, also be acceptable in replacement of alt such as ARIA LabeledBy.  The group is split here with some members feeling that alt has stood for accessibility for so long that anything that diminishes this message is not the best course of action for various reasons, such as backward compatibility, the long history of alt and such.  Others in the group are fine with the options put forth in the proposal where other options for a short text other than alt could be used for accessibility purposes.


\Meeting minutes of the meetings where this issue was discussed can be found at http://www.w3.org/2009/04/02-ua-minutes.html and http://www.w3.org/2009/03/26-ua-minutes.html.

Thanks,

Kelly

Received on Wednesday, 8 April 2009 04:03:38 UTC