WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: LongDesc for documents, not websites

for

From: John E Brandt
Date: Apr 20, 2011 11:27AM

I am not sure there is an easy answer here since there are many aspects to
your question that might be unique to the specific situation at hand. That
said, let me share the something my wise old dissertation chair used to
pound into us when he taught research design and we were writing tons of
research papers (I am paraphrasing):

...Tables and graphs are visual methods for communicating and supporting
what you have written in the narrative of your document. You never put
information into a table or graph and let the reader try to figure out what
it means or encourages them to draw their own conclusions...

I have always used the same philosophy in all of my writing whether it be in
a word processed document or an HTML document. And I have encouraged others
to do the same in workshops I have taught on the subject.

Now, there may be cases "in government work" where you do put out complex
charts and graphs or other objects that are intended to be used as "source
materials" for others to use, digest and interpret. My suggestion is that
all charted content should be provided in spreadsheet format with
appropriate labeling - or if in HTML, as a Table with appropriate coding.
Graphs would need a detailed explanation and there have been several
suggestions recommended already.

I will not comment on other objects such as images and ALT text or LongDesc
as that issue has been discussed - at length - in another thread.

Those are my two cents for what they are worth...

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA