Re: Is longdesc a good solution? (was: Acessibility of <audio> and <video>)

James Craig wrote:
> John Foliot wrote:
>> Lachlan Hunt wrote:
>>> It has been suggested to me that there may be cases where an image
>>> needs to have a description and provide a link elsewhere, which would 
>>> make
>>> this solution unusable. But no-one has yet been able to provide a
>>> valid use case illustrating that.
>>
>> OK, here you go: http://www.nasa.gov/
>>
>> The main page has a picture of the shuttle Atlantis, with the not so 
>> great
>> alt text of "STS-125 Atlantis". However, the photo is actually quite
>> complex, and so could benefit from a longdesc (although sadly it does not
>> exist).  Clicking on the image takes you to the section or the Nasa site
>> concerning the Atlantis shuttle.
> 
> In this case, no long description is needed. Certainly better alt text 
> should be there, but the point of the image is adequately described by 
> the title ("Shuttle Atlantis at the Launch Pad, Set for Hubble Mission") 
> and the caption ("Atlantis' crew, targeted to launch on Oct. 10, will 
> upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, extending the life of the 
> groundbreaking observatory. [link] Hubble Servicing Mission, [link] 
> Space Shuttle Section").

In this case, I agree with James.  However, if a longer description was 
necessary, then that's not a problem on this page.  The image has a 
caption that reads:

"Atlantis' crew, targeted to launch on Oct. 10, will upgrade the Hubble 
Space Telescope, extending the life of the groundbreaking observatory. › 
Hubble Servicing Mission | › Space Shuttle Section"

... where "Hubble Servicing Mission" and "Space Shuttle Selection" are 
links.  If it were deemed necessary for there to be a description, then 
there are at least 2 options:

1. Include the images within the article that the image links to and
    provide or link to longer descriptions from there.

2. Include a 3rd link in the caption that reads "Full image and
    description", which could include larger, more detailed image and a
    description with information that's useful for everyone.

If we look at one of the other articles, we see this is exactly what 
they have done.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20080905.html
This is the article Cassini Sees Ring Arcs Among Saturn's Moons, which 
is currently listed second on the home page below the space shuttle one. 
  In it, the image used as the thumbnail on the homepage also appears in 
the sidebar of the article, with a caption that reads:

"Cassini images reveal the existence of a faint arc of material orbiting 
with Saturn's small moon Anthe. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science 
Institute
_Full image and caption_ | _Another view of Anthe's arc_"

Those 2 links at the end of the caption each link to pages with larger 
images and longer descriptions that are useful for everyone.

-- 
Lachlan Hunt - Opera Software
http://lachy.id.au/
http://www.opera.com/

Received on Monday, 8 September 2008 08:40:00 UTC