Re: sellability of D-link vs. LONGDESC

Longdesc could act either as a link which must be activated by the user,
or as an automatic process, similar to IMG itself, whereby the description
is imported into the document without having to be explicitly requested.
Perhaps both alternatives could be made available, thus offering the user
a choice. A closely related concern, which has not been addressed so far,
is the compatibility of LONGDESC with CSS 2 selectors. Daniel has also
proposed modifications to HTML that would permit a proper textual
substitute to be given for an image map, rather than merely a list of
links and a reference to a long description.

As an aside, I often wonder whether the term "long description" can be
misleading. What is needed, in many cases, is not a description of what is
depicted in an image, but text which conveys the same information without
referring to the graphical representation.

Received on Wednesday, 17 September 1997 19:14:15 UTC