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Re: Hiding Legends

for

From: Moore, Michael
Date: Oct 17, 2008 3:50PM

>
> 1. Color and contrast meets WCAG AAA requirements at 8.6:1 for the
> luminosity ratio.
> 2. Testing with JAWS 9.0, the legends were reported correctly.
> 3. Pixilation of the legends when using ZoomText at 5X was acceptable.
> 4. The default color schemes on ZoomText all worked as expected.
> 5. When images were turned off, the legends disappeared and the reason
> for two name and address fields was lost.

Dean wrote:

That stands to reason. I guess I question why any one would turn off
images
and leave styles enabled. If you turned off styles, that wouldn't be an
issue.

Mike:

First there is the bandwidth issue - dial up users may have their
browsers configured to never down load images, I did this myself years
ago when images first started proliferating on the web.

Second there is the broken link/missing file issue. Mistakes happen.

Third, the configuration of antivirus/spam/privacy software may block
the images. The package that we are using here at the agency is
configured to block third party content but I have seen instances where
content has been blocked from our own sites.

If the image is present on the page instead of a background then the
alternative text will be rendered. I understand and agree with the
reasoning behind placing repetitive/decorative/aesthetic images that
usually show up on many pages in the style sheet. They get loaded once,
the pages render faster, and there is no risk of error on a null alt.
When you are talking about information that users need to see within a
form, like a legend, a missing background image may result in a broken
interface and a lost customer. I may be wrong, but I would not think
that the same form legends are present on too many pages. If that is the
case then the maintenance issues associated with placing the image in
the page would be negligible.

Have a great weekend,

Mike