Re: image info in text for sighted people (esp w/ cognitive impairments)

Hi Everyone,

I have been looking over the table and images tutorials and trying to
determine the best place to put a "tip" about the use of "alt" for people
with nonvisual disabilities and I am not sure that I have a good idea about
where this kind of information should go.  I liked the point that was made
in last week's meeting that providing alternative text can help users
without disabilities as well.  I think that is very important to note. Some
people may not have a diagnosed learning or intellectual disability, but
may instead just have a nonvisual learning style (e.g. auditory,
kinesthetic, or a combination of input needs).

I like that the Images tutorial already links to "people with various
disabilities" and provides a nice bulleted list of examples, some of which
are directly related to the tools used by people with learning and
intellectual disabilities - we just don't point out disabilities or
processing needs there.  Instead, we talk about tools that people may use,
which I think fits with the the language and direction of that section.

As I thought about this issue, I thought that it would be important for us
to note in our "tip" that "alternative text" can come in many forms (e.g.
alt attributes, long descriptions, captions, or text within the page).  At
this point, I decided not to mention "disabilities," but instead to just
talk about function.  This seems to be how we're handling the language in
the tutorials and I like that.

With that said, here is a very rough draft of text that can be put
somewhere ... at some point ... after it is thoroughly edited. ;-)
Hopefully it's at least a start:

"Providing alternative text for images can be done in many ways and can
benefit many users.  Using the alt attribute in the image element will
provide a functional alternative for simple images for screen reader users
and people who choose not to display images. However, for complex images,
it is important to provide a text alternative in simple language either
through a link, or presented on the screen with the image. This helps users
who cannot process visual information easily, or who prefer information in
a text format. It is important to remember that when users can control how
they interact with complex information, they will have a more effective
experience."

We might then want to list out some examples ...

"For example, GPS systems provide images of maps, as well as text
directions in a list of short steps."
etc.
etc.

I didn't go into other ways that alternative text can be provided ... we
might want to mention something about it, or not ....

Have fun in the Friday meeting and let me know if this gets discussed.  I
will be otherwise engaged in fun, family frivolity at family camp!

Ciao!

*_________________*

*For kids*

* Jan McSorley*
Accessibility Specialist

Digital Content Development
Assessment & Instruction
Pearson

D: (512) 989-5427
E: jan.mcsorley@pearson.com

Pearson

Always Learning
Learn more at www.pearsonk12.com

We put a man on the moon in the 1960's ... surely we can make information
technology fully accessible to people with disabilities.  It can be done
... it must be done ... it will be done!


On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 11:04 AM, Shawn Henry <shawn@w3.org> wrote:

> Hi Jan,
>
> Thanks for spending time on it! Here's the issue from Friday's telecon:
>
> * Andrew's comment: "Suggestion: consider adding a tip that 'alt' is
> primarily for screen reader users and those choosing not to display images,
> however as image complexity increases, cognitive load also increases and
> visible explanations of images are desirable."
> * Shawn edit suggestion: diff "visible explanations of images are
> desirable" -> visible textual information
> * Kevin: Rather than a simple tip, there might be a need for more
> explanation of the purpose and the usefulness of the provision of such
> information ... for example a complex graph in which text will include a
> summary of the key data points, etc
> * <Andrew> my example was weather forecasts - selecting city from a map vs
> a list of cites
> * <Andrew> comprehension of the presented information (rather than
> cognitive load)
> * Shawn: And rather than to use the term "cognitive load" we may discuss
> the fact that people process info differently and may also need onscreen
> text as well
>
> I think the idea that we wanted to get across is that alt is usually only
> used by screen reader users; however, especially with complex images, some
> sighted people (who would have difficulty gleaming info from the image)
> might need textual info for the image as well. So in some cases, it would
> be good to provide textual information about the image in the actual page
> (or linked), so that sighted people can see it, too.
>
> Minutes are at <http://www.w3.org/2014/06/13-eo-minutes>
>
> related pages:
> Images concepts: https://w3c.github.io/wai-tutorials/images/
> Complex images: https://w3c.github.io/wai-tutorials/images/complex/
> Images Tips: https://w3c.github.io/wai-tutorials/images/tips/
>
> ---
>
> The related issue that Andrew brought up was the difficulty in
> understanding complex tables. <https://w3c.github.io/wai-
> tutorials/tables/multi-level/#split-up-multi-level-tables> says "This
> makes the information easier to understand by everyone and easier to code,
> too." and it's mentioned in <https://w3c.github.io/wai-
> tutorials/tables/tips/>
>
> I think the suggestion here was to explain a little more that it's hard
> for some (sighted) people to understand complex table structure.
>
> Andrew & Helle & Eric: Please chime in. :-)
>
> ~Shawn
>
>