WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

LONGDESC in HTML5?

for

From: John Foliot
Date: Sep 24, 2010 11:06AM

Hi Jared,



As many on this list know, there is currently some controversy surrounding
the retention of the LONGDESC attribute in HTML5. The current Draft
Specification has obsoleted LONGDESC completely, despite the
recommendation from the Joint Task Force (WAI/PFWG and HTML WG) at the W3C
to retain it. (There is also a Formal Objection to this logged at the W3C,
as many accessibility advocates believe this is a bad decision)


Recently, some people who believe that LONGDESC should be dropped from
HTML5 are pointing to the WebAIM article at
http://webaim.org/techniques/images/longdesc as "proof" that accessibility
experts think that LONGDESC should no longer be used or supported. I
believe that they are misrepresenting what WebAIM is saying, but would
like to get some clarification "For The Record"



Does WebAIM believe that LONGDESC should be dropped from HTML5?



Thanks Jared!



JF

===========================
John Foliot

Program Manager

Stanford Online Accessibility Program

http://soap.stanford.edu

Stanford University

Tel: 650-862-4603



---

Co-chair - W3C HTML5 Accessibility Task Force (Media)

http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/HTML/wiki/Main_Page



============================