Fwd: [Bug 24592] New: Native user agent support for exposing longdesc to all users

very interesting, especially the bit at the end about longdesc native
support in UAs

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <bugzilla@jessica.w3.org>
Date: Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 3:53 AM
Subject: [Bug 24592] New: Native user agent support for exposing longdesc
to all users
To: public-html-admin@w3.org


https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=24592

            Bug ID: 24592
           Summary: Native user agent support for exposing longdesc to all
                    users
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: PC
               URL: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/embedded-content-1.html#t
                    he-img-element
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Keywords: a11y, a11y_text-alt, TrackerIssue
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: HTML Image Description Extension
          Assignee: chaals@yandex-team.ru
          Reporter: faulkner.steve@gmail.com
        QA Contact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: cooper@w3.org, ian@hixie.ch,
                    laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com, mike@w3.org,
                    public-html-admin@w3.org,
                    public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    rubys@intertwingly.net,
                    xn--mlform-iua@xn--mlform-iua.no
        Depends on: 10019

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #10019 +++

Please state that user agents can/should possess the option to reveal the
presence of longdesc to all users.

A longdesc provides for rich, expressive documentation of a visual image.
It is
used when alt is insufficient to embody the visual qualities of an image.
The
aim is to use any length of description necessary to impart the details of
the
graphic. If the information contained in an image is important to the
meaning
(i.e. some important content would be lost to the visually impaired or
blind if
the image was removed), longdesc should be used. A
programmatically-determined
longdesc serves a very specific and most critical use for blind and
non-visual
users.

Sometimes this content won't fit on the same page or is redundant for
sighted
users. For the majority of sighted users a longdesc is not needed. A sighted
person can see what is being described. So they typically wouldn't need an
explanation. Providing it visually would be extra verbiage that most
authors/designers would be reluctant to include visually on a page because
of
redundancy and aesthetics.

However, providing the ability to optionally expose longdesc to all users
would
have benefits.

OUTCOMES

It would:
* Allow longdesc to keep its purpose in aiding those with disabilities.
* Provide a practical method for developers who want a tool to check
longdesc
and keep it up to date.
* Allow everyone access to longdesc content aiding universal design.


OPTIONS TO EXPOSE LONGDESC

User agents could make the longdesc link visible and a functional hyperlink
on
demand (not by default) by providing a preference or switch in the browser
or
user agent.

Maybe something like Patrick Lauke's Firefox longdesc extension, which adds
a
"view long description" to the image context menu.
http://www.splintered.co.uk/experiments/55/

Other strategies to support longdesc natively in a User Agent, and allow the
user a set of exposure options also exist as Gregory J. Rosmaita has pointed
out:

QUOTE
The key is that the UA should support LONGDESC natively, and allow the user
a
set of choices about exposing LONGDESC:

* expose in new browser instance
* expose in new browser tab
* expose inline (insert content as object)
* expose inline through the use of IFrame
* expose the contents of the longdesc document in a side-bar, aligned with
the
image it describes
UNQUOTE

http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Talk:ChangeProposals/longdesc#Strategies_for_Exposing_LONGDESC

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-- 
Jim Allan, Accessibility Coordinator & Webmaster
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
1100 W. 45th St., Austin, Texas 78756
voice 512.206.9315    fax: 512.206.9264  http://www.tsbvi.edu/
"We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." McLuhan, 1964