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

for

From: Steve Faulkner
Date: Mar 20, 2012 8:39AM

Hi Jared,
The problem i see with use of alt="" in this context is that if there is a
caption for something then that something needs to be identified.
In time I hope the HTML5 figure/figcaption elementes will provide the
appropaitae semantics for this situation.
In HTML5 it is conforming for an image inside a figure with acaption not to
have an alt attribute, on the presumption that the image is adequately
dscribed by the caption. In this case I would expect user agents such as
screen readers to announce the presence of the image "graphic -
caption:....".

Until such times I have suggested a pattern in examples in HTML5:
Techniques for providing useful text alternatives
http://dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/#sec12
http://dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/#m6

would appreciate your feedback on these.

regards
steve

On 20 March 2012 14:27, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> 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
>