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RE: evaluating Web accessibility software

for

From: Jim Thatcher
Date: Jul 25, 2003 1:29PM


Hi Jon,

I was surprised to read that you view Alt on an AREA as an "inaccessible
technique" - and this apparently because it is not rendered with images off
in Opera. It is rendered with the mouse over in IE and Netscape 4 (but not
Netscape 7 or OPERA, apparently) and it is rendered with HPR and the major
screen readers. Seems to me that that bodes well for the accessibility of
the technique. There are other html coding techniques that are not realized
in the visual browser that I think are fundamental to accessibility, like
the LABEL element, the scope attribute and the header/id combinations, to
mention a few.

Jim
508 Web Accessibility Tutorial http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm.
"Constructing Accessible Web Sites:" http://jimthatcher.com/news.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Gunderson [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 8:49 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: RE: evaluating Web accessibility software

Jules,
Some browsers provide access to TITLE/ALT attribute information through
tooltip features (mouse hovering over element brings up a popup window of
the TITLE content), but this is problematic since many useres do not know
how or in some cases cannot style tooltip information and also the user
needs to know where to hover the mouse to get access. Not all users can
use a mouse. If they are having trouble viewing the image they may not
think of trying to search for TITLE attribute information. In either case
it places a huge burden on the user with low vision or a cognitive
disability to access and style the information.

Jon

At 10:36 AM 7/25/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Jon wrote:
>
> > 8. ... Note: ALT for AREA element is not rendered by any
> > major browser,
> > so should be considered and inaccessible technique, unless there are
> > redundant text links in the document.
>
>What about the TITLE attribute in the AREA element? Might that not be used
>as a replacement for ALT?
>
>Jules
>
>
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Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820

Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248

E-mail: <EMAIL REMOVED>

WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund



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