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Re: clear text image descriptions and alt text with user-created content

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Mar 20, 2012 8:24AM

On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 7:10 AM, < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> 1. When there is a clear text image description, what should the
> alt text on the image be?

If the image description (i.e., caption) of the image conveys the
content of the image, the image should probably have alt="". I like to
teach that every image must have alternative text, but that
alternative text does not necessarily have to be in the alt attribute.
A caption is acceptable. Alt="" conveys that the image does not convey
content or the content is conveyed in nearby content (e.g., the image
caption).

> 2. In contexts (such as social media) where he clear text image
> description is welcome or permissible, should be used even if the
> authoring tool allows alt (and possibly longerdesc)?

I think this depends on the image and the image's context. In some
cases having an image and a text description would be redundant for
sighted users (imagine a photo of a cat with a caption of "cat"). In
this case, the alt attribute would be better. The key is to accurately
and succinctly convey the content while avoiding repetition or
duplication of content.

Jared Smith
WebAIM.org