WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Screen Shots and A11y

for

From: Dave Merrill
Date: Jun 10, 2013 6:22AM

An xpath representation of the object you're referring to is very specific,
which is good, but its specificity also makes it very fragile. It's very
possible for otherwise unimportant changes, even invisible ones, to break
it, or make it refer to the wrong element.

As a developer myself, I'd think a text description would be best, and
possibly a screenshot. However, I'm sighted. If I wasn't, this
communication would be more difficult, but me thinking that may just be a
reflection of not having dealt with it all day every day for a long time.


On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 7:41 AM, Birkir R. Gunnarsson <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi
>
> Agree that screenshots are not very helpful to the screenreader user.
> However, I have had problems making sure, when I deliver an
> accessibility evaluation, that there is no ambiguity for the sighted
> site developer, where I am encountering an issue (especially on a
> large site).
> After all, I can't use a language like "the red square logo on the
> bottom left of the screen only works with the mouse", not without
> sighted assistance.
> I use XPath currently to mark the piece of code I am referring to,
> which is helpful for the developers, but I need to find out if there
> is a way to paste an XPath query into a browser and have the browser
> automatically highlight that section or page element, ideally
> something that could be done very easily.
> I have been playing around with Firebug for Firefox, nd you can easily
> get the XPath of the element from there.
> However I am not sure what happens when you past the XPath expression back
> in.
> Cheers
> -B
>
> On 6/10/13, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > in my experience as a screen reader user screen shots have little value
> as
> > they are an image that is not readable. The only value that they have is
> for
> >
> > me to demonstrate an inaccessible web page to a developer or sight master
> > when I am using their site.
> > Chuck
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "David Ashleydale" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 2:32 PM
> > Subject: [WebAIM] Screen Shots and A11y
> >
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> My web site often has screen shots of pages as an introduction to some
> >> new
> >> functionality, in addition to describing the functionality in the
> >> accompanying text. The screen shots are meant to familiarize users with
> >> how
> >> the service might look if they were to sign up for it. However, this is
> >> very visually-oriented. I don't think there's even a very practical way
> >> of
> >> describing a screen shot in ALT text. Or at least, ALT text wouldn't
> >> provide the same purpose as the screen shot, which is specifically to
> >> show
> >> the user what it will look like.
> >>
> >> Would screen shots be considered "decorative" and therefore be given
> null
> >> ALT text? Or should there be a completely different strategy that would
> >> take the place of a screen shot for users that are unable to see it?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> David Ashleydale
> >> > >> > >> > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > >



--
Dave Merrill