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Re: MS Word accessibility supported for images?

for

From: Moore,Michael
Date: Aug 20, 2009 7:30AM

In the Windows versions it can be found within the size dialog. I am not sure about the Mac but that's where I would start.

Mike Moore
(512) 424-4159


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Julie Strothman
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:23 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] MS Word accessibility supported for images?

Is it true that Word 2008 for Mac does not have the ability to add alternate
text?
I've not been able to find it, if you can--it's not an option in the 'Format
Picture' dialog box tabs, nor in the formatting pane.
-Julie Strothman

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 9:03 AM, Moore,Michael <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Well, yes and no. We have found with JAWS 9 and 10 and Office 2007 that the
> alternative text will be announced by the screen reader, just not
> consistently. We have not been able to determine what causes the variable
> behavior. There are also other methods that screen reader users can use
> while in Word to access the alternative text in the images, but in practice
> I have not observed many people doing this.
>
> If the document is converted to PDF or HTML the alternative text will
> definitely be present for the user. This saves a step when working from
> Word.
>
> More important in Word documents, is the use of styles to mark up headings.
> These are made available to the JAWS screen reader users and greatly improve
> navigation through the document. I am not sure about other ATs. These will
> also convert to headings in HTML and PDF.
>
> One thing to definitely avoid within Word documents are "text areas." These
> little gems that are frequently used for callouts, and misused for many
> other purposes, are generally missed by screen reader users. They do not
> appear within the normal document flow and thus are difficult to find. I
> have seen several hacks to get around the issue, but in practice I have not
> seen them work well in any version of JAWS that we have tested.
>
> Mike Moore
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:
> <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Mark Magennis
> Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 5:38 AM
> To: Webaim Forum
> Subject: [WebAIM] MS Word accessibility supported for images?
>
> Can the use of text alternatives with images in Microsoft Word (DOC
> format) files be said to be accessibility supported? That is, are
> enough assistive technologies able to read the alt text if it is there?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
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