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Re: Alt Text

for

From: Geof Collis
Date: Feb 25, 2010 1:33PM


After I sent my message I gave it some more thought and agree it
could be helpful.

cheers

Geof



At 02:19 PM 2/25/2010, you wrote:
>What kind of graphic? To me, there's a huge difference between an image
>and a photo in my mind, and a chart versus an icon. Is this distinction
>important?
>
>JF
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto:webaim-forum-
> > <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Geof Collis
> > Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:04 AM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List
> > Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Alt Text
> >
> > But JAWS announces it's a graphic anyway, why duplicate it?
> >
> > cheers
> >
> > Geof
> >
> > At 01:55 PM 2/25/2010, you wrote:
> > >Bevi Chagnon | PubCom wrote:
> > > >
> > > > From my research and testing, I've found that a quick identifier in
> > the
> > > > ALT
> > > > text helps a) quickly convey the information to the user, and b)
> > reduces
> > > > the
> > > > number of words I need to use.
> > > > Some examples.
> > > > Photo: sunset in Rocky Mountain forest.
> > > > Logo: U.S. Forest Service.
> > > > Pie chart: Number of blue widgets sold in 2009, by sales quarter.
> > (This
> > > > sample would also get a longdesc attribute to provide the chart's
> > > > details.)
> > >
> > >I would echo agreement with Bevi's 'pattern' here, and have suggested
> > it
> > >in the past as a best practices guideline. Additionally, I 'wrap' the
> > alt
> > >text in [square brackets], for times when images might be disabled for
> > >sighted users, and the image 'interrupts' or skews text flow (or might
> > >seem redundant to some users). For example:
> > >
> > >[Photo: Jared Smith] Jared Smith is the Director of WebAIM...
> > >
> > >As opposed to:
> > >
> > >Jared Smith Jared Smith is the Director of WebAIM...
> > >
> > >Just a suggestion however.
> > >
> > >
> > > > I use a colon to separate the identifier from the text so that it
> > pauses
> > > > the
> > > > screen reader for blind users, and also makes grammatical sense to
> > > > sighted users.
> > >
> > >Yup, some common identifiers I use are: [Photo: ], [Icon: ],
> > [Graphic:
> > >], [Chart: ], etc.
> > >
> > >JF
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >