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Re: LongDesc for documents, not websites

for

From: Giovanni Duarte
Date: Apr 21, 2011 6:24AM

The approach mentioned below is what we do in our online courses. The
difference is that we have developed a JavaScript that allows us to use the
"hide and show" function. In this way the user is not taken out of the page
and the description is available to anyone. The student clicks on the
"transcript" link and this expands a section within the page that shows the
description.
The four points mentioned below are very valid and I agree that when
considering accessibility we are talking not only about blind users but for
everyone.

Thanks,
Giovanni.


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jeevan Reddy
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 2:46 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] LongDesc for documents, not websites

Hello Grignon,
I appreciate your thought, but remember accessibility is not only for
Screen reader users. Why you need so many jumpings?
As our other experts said, i suggest to use a "discription" link at end of
each graph or chart, once the user click on description, it'll take you to
the description in the same page, where two "back" links one to resumed
position and another to top take you to the resumed position and top
respectively.
This will benefit:
1 A screen reader user can locate the description of the graph or chart
easily.
2 A cognitive user can look the description of the chart or graph easily.
3 A motor impaired user can locate descriptions with minimal keystrokes if
he/she needed.
4 Benefits every one by reducing document scrolling.

Best Regards,

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 4:59 PM, Will Grignon
< <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> Why not create the master document and a description document? The
> blind user can read the master and, when he/she encounters a described
> graphic,
> ALT+TAB to the description document to get the full description, then
> ALT+TAB back to the master to resume reading. I am a blind screen
> ALT+reader
> user and it's a pain to jump to the back of a document to find an
> endnote then jump back to where I had left off, but it is relatively
> easy to read a master document, jump over to a secondary document,
> then jump back to the master at the point I had left it to read the
secondary document.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Bevi
> Chagnon | PubCom
> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 11:32 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: [WebAIM] LongDesc for documents, not websites
>
> This question comes up every time I teach my 508 classes to government
> employees.
> What's the best way to handle Alt-text for complex graphics in MS Word
> and PDF documents (not websites)?
>
> My government clients have very complex graphics such as charts,
> graphs, maps, technical drawings, floor plans, and flow charts.
> Standard Alt-text isn't sufficient to describe the details of the
graphics.
>
> The LongDesc attribute doesn't work for these documents for these reasons:
>
> 1) The attribute requires that my clients know what the final website
> location of the LongDesc webpage is, and this is impossible for them
> to know while they are creating the M.S. Word or PDF file.
>
> 2) There is a lengthy approval process for all documents (usually
> months
> away) so it's not possible to know where the document will live on a
> file server, website, or intranet while it's under construction.
>
> 3) The I.T. department usually controls where the final document is
> stored, not my clients who are making the document, and I.T. will not
> tell them 2-3 months in advance where that location will be. (Note,
> Federal security requirements often affect this, too.)
>
> 4) There are often hundreds of these complex graphics in a document.
>
> Writing the detailed description into the narrative of the document
> often doesn't work. The description alone can take up an entire page
> of narration for very complex graphics, and therefore a long narration
> impairs sighted readers (they'll quickly lose interest in the document).
>
> One idea we had was to repeat the complex graphics at the end of the
> document along with a detailed narrative. In the main body of the
> document, the graphic can have a normal text link to the back where
> the detailed narrative is located.
>
> Example:
> Main body of the document <Figure>
> Pie chart shows growth of x-y during 2010. <live link to the back
> page>Text description of this chart is at the end of this document.
>
> There are two significant drawbacks to this method:
>
> 1) It's very time consuming and impractical to construct this,
> especially given the immense number of revisions that a government
> document goes through before it is finalized. The live text links will
> eventually get out of whack during the normal editing and revision
process.
>
> 2) In these graphic-intensive documents, it could easily add a hundred
> or more pages to the document because the graphics will appear twice,
> once in the main body of the text and again in the back section with
> the detailed description.
>
> Any suggestions? Remember, these are Word and PDF documents, not websites.
> Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom!
>
> --Bevi Chagnon
>
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