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Re: [EXTERNAL]Figures and Captions and Alt-text oh my...

for

From: Sandy Feldman
Date: May 8, 2018 5:20PM

hey Jonathan,

"the author doesn't want to  prevent the user from making their own
determinations" is exactly why the artist wants his descriptions hidden
from the sighted user. That's well said. It's been very interesting for
me to read these. It's given me an insight into these dreamlike images.

So, for example, the alt on one of the images is alt="Arnie's
grandfather decorating a cake"

Underneath the image of the painting is the title, size, and medium.
Would it make sense to put this in a <caption>?
The Pastry Chef. 30" x 24". Acrylic on canvas.

And here is the visually hidden text, written by the artist:
"My grandfather applies the finishing touches to a crown-shaped cake in
honour of George the fifth's coronation in 1937. Beside him on the floor
is an accordion reflective of his fun loving "party guy" spirit. On the
wall behind him is a Soviet propaganda poster extolling the benefits of
collective farming, a reference to his radical past. A pair of muddy
army boots betrays his desertion from the Lithuanian army."

Except for the alt none of this has any semantic tagging or ARIA labels.
It's just plain old text, either hidden or displayed. It makes sense to
me when I listen to it with Voice Over, but it would, wouldn't it?

I am wondering if it makes sense to people using a screen reader, and if
there's a better way I could do it.

Sandy




On 2018-05-08 7:08 PM, Jonathan Avila wrote:
> I would also comment that in my opinion there is a difference > between alt text and a caption and they should be different. An >
alternative provides a replacement for non-text content while a >
caption associates the image with the content allowing for references >
from the content. Alt text can also be useful to people with low >
vision who might miss subtle details in the picture but do have some >
sight. With art is difficult as what you see is subjective based on >
your life's experience and the author doesn't want to prevent the > user
from making their own determinations. In that since alt text > for art
may be different from alt text for other images in that you > generally
don't want to describe the image but the function. With > art you may
want to describe the image and not express an > interpretation on the
screen reader or any user. I suppose an > exception to this might be an
art education class where you want to > communicate that. > > Jonathan >
> Jonathan Avila Chief Accessibility Officer Level Access >
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