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Re: Alternate text for images having caption adjacent

for

From: Rakesh P
Date: May 29, 2014 11:57AM

<Jared wrote:
But, I think this requirement often results in less-than-optimal
accessibility. Consider a photo of me in a web page with text
immediately below it of "Jared Smith". Based on this definition, one
would have to either provide alternative text that is redundant to the
actual text, or do something like this:

Jared Smith

This is certainly not useful or efficient. The content of the image is
that it's me, Jared Smith, so why require verbose or unnecessary text
references to that content from the image itself? Consider the
overhead of dozens of these types of alt attribute references
(alt="Product image. Product title is below."???) for every product
image on a shopping web site.>

I totally agree with you Jared in regard with verbos, but my concern is
Consider If alt="" is used instead of "Image of or photo of Jared" in
alternate text, screen reader will not announce that an image of Jared
is available in the web page. If I want to ask my sited friend to
explain how Jared looks. Tall, fair, with blue eyes etc. alt="" will
not allow me to do so.
(I am a screen reader user just trying to put my perspective not to go
into personal details though)
Thanks & Regards
Rakesh
On 5/28/14, Whitney Quesenbery < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I'd like to push the discussion of captions v. alt text a little further.
>
> I work on a UX magazine, where we try to take accessibility seriously and
> regularly publish articles on the topic. Many of our articles include
> illustrations that are screenshots or images of other design artifacts. All
> of our illustrations have captions, and a direct reference in the text.
>
> The work of making the captions and alt text work together is one of our
> ongoing discussions. I'd love any input, beyond the usual rules for alt
> text, as I'm working on a style guide for our authors and editors.
>
> 1. If the *content* of the screenshot is not very important, do not
> transcribe the text. The alt text briefly adds any descriptive details that
> help someone visualize the image and make sense of the example.
>
> If the *content* is important, use the alt text to identify the content
> (say, repeat the title of the form or content being illustrated). Include a
> box at the end of the article with the full text. (And even here,
> transcribe only the part of the screen that is important to illustrating
> the point.) Add a link in the caption (where it's possible technically)
> that points to the long description in the box.
>
> 2. If the screenshot is compared to another, and well described in caption
> or text, the alt text says whether it's the "before" or "after" (or
> good/bad) image, in case a reader wants to know which is which.
>
> If the comparison is sensory, echo words from the article to characterize
> the visual impact. (For example: "Screen showing bland clip art" and
> "Screen showing vibrant images")
>
>
> 3. Avoid de-minimus descriptions like "photo" in favor of what it's a photo
> of. We use a word to describe the image only if the visual style matters.
> (For example "Hand-drawn sketch" or "Visual mock-up" or "Screenshot".)
>
> 4. Think about how the alt text and caption read together, trying to make
> them work as a coherent information unit
>
> Don't hide any generally meaningful information in the alt text. Put that
> in the caption, even if it makes a slightly longer caption.
>
> Our alt text is sometimes longer than usual suggestions when the extra
> words are helpful in understanding the design
>
>
> Whitney
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 3:33 PM, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 1:09 PM, Jonathan Avila wrote:
>>
>> > Alt text may often be different from a caption.
>>
>> Indeed. And in this case, the image would need an alt attribute value
>> in addition to the caption.
>>
>> > For example, a caption might be "Washington crossing the Delaware", but
>> the
>> > alt text for the picture would in most situations need to describe more
>> > than that to be a replacement of the image for someone who could not
>> > see
>> > it.
>>
>> Yep, but if the full alternative *is* in context, adding
>> alt="Painting. The description is in the text below." is silly and
>> doesn't resemble alternative text at all, but it is what the WCAG
>> definition and techniques suggest is necessary for conformance.
>>
>> Jared
>> >> >> >>
> > > >