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RE: Describing logos, it's just polite

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From: Jukka Korpela
Date: Aug 20, 2002 1:10AM

Diane Boettcher wrote:

> He said that it's not strictly necessary to describe
> what the logo looks like, just as it's not strictly
> necessary for someone to describe what a room looks
> like that he has entered for the first time. However,
> it can be nice to know and he considered a description
> of a logo to be "polite."

It can be more than that. If someone is accessing a Web page without seeing
the images (or some image), this does not necessarily mean that he has no
use for purely visual information, such as the particular graphic form of
the W3C logo. A good explanation could help him to "see" what the logo looks
like and thus e.g. to recognize it when seen later. Besides, a description
could well explain what the logo symbolizes.

> Now, the question becomes how to best include it. I
> like using the "d-link" convention. Other ideas?

In a sense, this is fairly simple: If your page contains a logo, use alt
text that performs the function of the logo (whatever this consideration
might lead you to), and use longdesc to refer to a document containing a
verbal explanation of the appearance of the logo.

However, the longdesc attribute is poorly supported. I wouldn't use a
D-link, though; D-links may cause confusion, and a description of a logo
isn't such an essential piece of information that users would generally
_need_ access to it. But you could put somewhere a link to an explanation of
the logo, or just write the description on, say, onto an "About us" page
(and use a URL reference pointing to it in the longdesc attribute).

--
Jukka Korpela, senior adviser
TIEKE Finnish Information Society Development Centre
http://www.tieke.fi
Phone: +358 9 4763 0397 Fax: +358 9 4763 0399


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