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A larger discussion (was RE: Inline Images and ALT text)

for

From: John Foliot
Date: Jan 14, 2009 12:30PM

Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
>
> > Contrast: "Jared Smith, M.S., is the Associate Director for WebAIM.
> > Jared
> > Smith" vs. "Jared Smith, M.S., is the Associate Director for WebAIM.
> > [Photo - Jared Smith]" Most screen readers, unless configured for
> > maximum
> > verbosity, tend to ignore/not voice the square brackets, and so would
> > say
> > aloud: "Jared Smith, M.S., is the Associate Director for WebAIM. Image -
> > Photo - Jared Smith".
>
> In this case, even better: "Jared Smith, M.S., is the Associate Director
> for WebAIM." and a nice alt="" in the image?
>

...and in fact, this is what Jared is doing on his site now
[http://tinyurl.com/7cm9d9]. (P.S. Jared, I'm/we're not singling you out for
any particular reason...)


<for discussion>

The inclusion of a photo of Jared is done deliberately. It is not a
"decorative" image per-se, it is provided to allow folks to know what Jared
looks like, so that (for example) when you run into him at a conference you
can say hi to him, or whatever. As such, it is an "image of value" as
opposed to something that is purely decorative in nature. It is also
entirely feasible that a non-sighted user might want a copy of that image
(for a report, to add to their social network page, to share with an
associate, etc.), yet by not indicating that the image is part of the page
(and using alt=""), we/you are deliberately "hiding" that information "of
value" from the non-sighted user.

I posit that this is wrong.

This relates to a similar situation I encountered earlier this month here at
work: our central library is working on a next generation search tool for
the collections they maintain (and it is one of the largest private
libraries in the Western U.S., roughly 6.5 million titles). The results
page is offering an image of the book cover as part of the results. What to
do? Is alt="" the answer?

Using the same argument from above, I suggest no - there is both a reason
and a value in providing that image to the sighted user, and to not do so to
the non-sighted is unfair, unbalanced, and may in fact be a point of
"liability" (Note: I AM NOT A LAWYER!). Yet, at the opposite end of the
discussion, it is simply not feasible to provide a proper alt value for all
of the book covers in the databases (complicated by the fact that at least
one of the "image" db's is outside of our control - it's a Google's), and
echoing back alt="<?php echo($Booktitle); ?>" introduces a certain amount of
redundancy, since preceding the image is <h2><?php echo($Booktitle);
?>"</h2>.

At this time, I have suggested a middle-ground solution (alt="Book cover"),
fully aware that if the user is researching 30 books, that too will become
tiresome. However it is a simple fix for the developers (it's static text),
and it's better (IMHO) than "saying" nothing. I queried a few daily AT
users that I know and asked their opinions; that very small feedback further
suggested that what I was proposing was an acceptable compromise, but a
survey panel of 3 is hardly definitive.

So what do others think?

</for discussion>

JF
===========================John Foliot
Program Manager
Stanford Online Accessibility Program
http://soap.stanford.edu
Stanford University
Tel: 650-862-4603

Soap Is a program directed by the
Vice Provost for Student Affairs
============================