Re: ALT Text Notes and Guidelines (take 2)

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Jon Gunderson wrote:

> 2. #2 could easily become an invisible accessibility feature if know one
> knows the information is there, since standard browser rendering would not
> include the ALTREF information.  Most people with disabilities will also
> only know the ALTREF information is there if their non-disabled peers know
> it's there, since most don't have access to people with specialized
> disability access knowledge.  Non-disabled peers will probably only know it
> is there if there is some visual presentation or highly visible information
> in a help file.  But you can also say this of #1, since 99.999% of WWW
> authors don't even know about it.

It is precisely such lack of knowledge which the education and awareness
component of the WAI will be intended to address. I agree with Daniel that
the D-link solution would probably be regarded by authors as too invasive
and as detracting from the aesthetic, presentational aspects of their
documents. I therefore would not support it, except perhaps as a short
term measure.

Furthermore, it has been assumed in this discussion that the user is
accessing the web via a visually-oriented browser and a screen reader.
This assumption, though almost universally true today, is contrary to the
direction in which web standards and technologies in general are
developing. Browsers equipped with "audio formatting" or "braille
formatting" software, which not only have access to the structural
information provided by the HTML markup but are also guided by audio and
braille style sheets, are likely to become the predominant means of
accessing the web for those who require output in these media. This does
not necessarily entail the use by people with disabilities of specialised,
custom-designed web clients. I understand for example that the Document
Object Model may provide a mechanism by which an audio or braille
formatting system can acquire high-level content such as markup and style
sheet information from a web browser.

I am firmly of the opinion that "audio formatting" (a concept developed by
T.V. Raman in his outstanding research into this subject) is far superior
to the conventional concept of a screen reader, and it is toward such a
solution that much of the WAI effort is directed, particularly in the
development of ACSS, braille style sheets and many of the features that
have been incorporated into the HTML 4.0 draft for the benefit of people
with disabilities. The ALTSRC proposal is another such mechanism, which is
primarily intended for use by web clients that are responsive to the
user's access needs and which can thus generate an appropriate audio or
braille presentation.

Received on Friday, 18 July 1997 20:28:55 UTC