WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Alt Text

for

From: Geof Collis
Date: Feb 25, 2010 10:30AM


Hi Jared

I was thinking of shortening it but will have to check with the
Client. It is not apparent that you can download some assistive
device software by clicking on it, it is also in my "accessibility
bar" at the top of the page so putting text around it is not an option.

cheers

Geof


At 11:15 AM 2/25/2010, you wrote:
>No tool can tell you if your alt text is appropriate or not. Only a
>human can do that. Long alt text can be burdensome to users and is
>often inappropriate. But not always. I think roughly ~100 characters
>or so is a threshold at which one might consider using another method
>than the alt attribute for conveying the content of the image. This
>more lengthy content is typically provided using adjacent text, or a
>link to a long description and optionally the longdesc attribute. But
>this is not a hard, fast rule.
>
>For the example you presented, I do think the alternative text could
>probably be shortened. The fact that it's a graphic and that it's a
>link is almost always already conveyed by a screen reader. Something
>like "Download eSSENTIAL Accessibility assistive technology" seems
>more appropriate, though it's impossible to know without knowing the
>content and context of the exact image.
>
>Jared Smith
>WebAIM
>