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Re: Alt text in Word 2016: Indicate null image & which box to type in

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Jan 16, 2017 5:37PM

<< Do you think Description is enough to catch almost everyone today? >>

I'd take a look at the standards and decide.
All stakeholders are supposed to abide by the standards, including all assistive technology manufacturers as well as content creators (us).

Alt-text is an attribute on the <IMG> (web) or <FIGURE> (pdf) tag.
When a PDF is exported from Word, the Description field in Word is converted to Alt-text.
When a Word document is converted to HTML (or imported into an HTML webpage), I have no idea if the description field is converted to Alt-text in the HTML. In my experience, alt-text doesn't carry over from Word to HTML.

The Title tag is not alt-text and doesn't convert to alt-text. With some file formats, it might put a Title attribute on an element, but it is not standard practice to put a Title attribute on a graphic <IMG> or <FIGURE> tag. I also can't find anything in WCAG or PDF/UA that specifies a Title attribute on a graphic. (If so, please let me know!) Therefore, don't count on any assistive technology to recognize a Title attribute on a graphic because they're not required by the standard to recognize it on a graphic.

So in my reading of all this, the Description field should be enough to catch everyone using AT. If an AT isn't recognizing and presenting the Alt-text, then it's failing WCAG and PDF/UA international accessibility standards. And shame on the manufacturer!

FYI, an excellent summary of WCAG is on WebAIM's site, http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/WCAG2Checklist.pdf. Succinct, well-written, and comprehendible by mere mortals. This version is copyrighted 2016, so I'm assuming it's the latest version of their checklist.

--Bevi Chagnon

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Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com
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