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Re: Question about image in the alt attribute

for

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Jul 30, 2014 10:56PM

2014-07-31 5:28, Chagnon | PubCom wrote:

> Please keep in mind that WCAG's standards/guidelines for Alt-text aren't
> only for those who are fully blind. Partially-sighted and low-vision users
> rely on Alt-text, also. People with various dyslexia as well as
> autism/Asperger's also benefit from Alt-text on graphics because it can help
> reinforce their perception of the graphic.

That's not what the alt attribute is for. It is to be presented when the
image is not displayed. It is ALTernative.

> From my personal experience with close friends and family members with
> varying degrees of visual disabilities, I've often been asked "what's this
> picture of?" They could detect that a photo was in the document but could
> only see shapes or a fuzzy rendition of it. Alt-text, even simple wording
> such as "High-school age girl and boy holding hands outside a school" would
> go a long way to help this group of AT users perceive the graphic.

And it would be meaningless and disturbing when the image is not seen at
all, which is when the alt text is to be presented. Think about the
presentation of the page in speech, or in Braille, or graphically with
image loading disabled.

The title attribute can be used to provide a *description* or other
advisory title for an image. It is meant to be available (optionally)
when the image *is* displayed.

Yucca