WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Captions and transcripts

for

From: Kevin White
Date: Jan 6, 2012 9:09AM

Hi All,

I have a client who has asked a question that has got me thinking. The question is basically 'are captions needed if a transcript is provided'? This is for video content that contains dialog only so no audio description is necessary.

My immediate reaction was 'Yes'. However, we had a bit of a chat and there is an argument that suggests the transcript is sufficient. This argument centres on the following paragraph from the W3C (http://tinyurl.com/7g3335j):

Captions are not needed when the synchronized media is, itself, an alternate presentation of information that is also presented via text on the Web page. For example, if information on a page is accompanied by a synchronized media presentation that presents no more information than is already presented in text, but is easier for people with cognitive, language, or learning disabilities to understand, then it would not need to be captioned since the information is already presented on the page in text or in text alternatives (e.g., for images).

What this seems to suggest is that if the information in the video already presented in text on the page then the captions are not required.

Does this not then imply that captions are never required if a full transcript is provided on the page?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Kevin