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RE: Spliced Images

for

From: Reidy Brown
Date: Sep 7, 2000 7:34PM

Often designers do this when the complex images include or "frame" text or
table code, making the non-graphic elements appear to be part of the
graphic. Or if some parts of the image are reused over and over (to make
tables appear to have rounded corners, say) while some are replaced (the
title of the tables, either as formatted text or as a graphic). If the
images are sliced in a somewhat meaningful way, you can handle this by
giving useful alt tags to semantically meaningful parts of a table and empty
alt tags to "architectural" graphics-- graphics that are used to maintain
the visual composition of the page but convey no other meaning. Here are
some sample tags (stripped of other attributes for simplicity):
<img src="/images/tabs/roundedleftcorner.gif" alt=""><img
src="/images/tabs/tooltabtext.gif" alt="Tools"><img
src="/images/tabs/roundedrightcorner.gif" alt="">
which could also be conveyed using text and style sheets (more in line with
WAI guidelines):
<img src="/images/tabs/roundedleftcorner.gif" alt=""><span
class="tab">Tools</span><img src="/images/tabs/roundedrightcorner.gif"
alt="">

Here's a hint: look at the page in Lynx or another text-only browser. If the
meaning of the page is clear and uncluttered, while conveying all important
information, you've designed it well. Otherwise, you can try assigning alt
tags differently to make it easier to read the page.
Reidy
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Reidy Brown
Accessibility Coordinator/
Software Engineer
Blackboard, Inc.
1899 L. St., NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 463-4860 x236
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