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Re: A small doubt on alt text

for

From: Pratik Patel
Date: Feb 19, 2013 3:06AM

Hello all,

I realize that this has been a great discussion. And the solutions provided
to the original problem appeared to be accurate and most part. However I
would like to raise one question and a bit of a concern looking at the
original example, I wonder if there's a need for alternative text at all.
The question that I would ask when creating this kind of link is why is the
blind person receiving this additional information? What use does the link
text actually serve? And what use does the alternative text serve? Is it
even necessary to provide the additional information to the blind person
when this information is not given to the sighted person? Does the context
surrounding the link itself provide this additional information to the
sighted person that a blind person is not getting? While it is important for
us to comply with WCAG Criteria, it is also important for us to keep in mind
that these criteria should not be taken so literally. The mindset of
compliance often appears to take over real usage patterns. Rather than
asking fundamental questions about the content, the focus is so much on the
WCAG Criteria that the real usage shifts away from the user. I think there's
always a value to asking basic questions over fancy techniques.

Sorry for the mini rant.

Regards,

Pratik

Pratik Patel
Founder and CEO, EZFire
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