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Re: If an image doesn't add meaning, should it have alt text?

for

From: Isabel Holdsworth
Date: Apr 12, 2019 7:41AM

Hi Larry,

We tend to add empty/null alt attributes ( alt="" ) to our decorative images.

If a screenreader user can already derive the meaning from the text,
and the image's alt text would only mirror what's already available,
then it would be counter-productive to repeat it.

I'm a screenreader user with a busy life, and I'd rather read a
document more quickly than listen to redundant alternative text. But
that's just a personal opinion :-)

Cheers, Isabel

On 08/04/2019, Karlen Communications < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> In the PDF format, decorative images can be identified as Artifacts using
> the Reading Order tool. This means that adaptive technology "doesn't see
> them" and therefore we don't spend valuable time listening to Alt Text for
> images that don't really add or support meaning to the content.
>
> In the latest version of Microsoft Office 365/2016+ subscription version,
> you can identify an image in a document as an "Artifact" by checking the
> check box to "Mark as decorative" in the Alt Text Pane.
>
> If you then convert that Word or PowerPoint content to tagged PDF, the
> images will be Artifacts/not seen by the adaptive technology.
>
> BUT...
>
> If you then share that Word or PowerPoint document with someone who is not
> using the latest version of Office 365/2016+ subscription they will not
> have
> access to the fact that the images are Artifacts. The ability to mark
> something in an Office 365/2016+ subscription application is NOT backward
> compatible. If someone using an earlier version of Office runs the
> Accessibility Checker on the file, they will get errors for the images that
> are marked as Artifacts/decorative that they are missing alt text. The
> person reading that content will not be able to add Alt text as the Alt
> text
> field is not available to them because someone using a more recent version
> of the application identified the images as Artifacts/decorative.
>
> And another BUT....
>
> This is a relatively new tool/feature of Office 365/2016+ subscription and
> the adaptive technology hasn't caught up with it yet. So what we hear are
> "graphic, 6 inches by 4 inches" for images marked as Artifacts/decorative
> which isn't helpful when reading through the document.
>
> On the other hand, if you add Alt text in Word like "decorative image" you
> will need to sift through those images in a PDF document to make them
> Artifacts...or we will have to listen to "graphic, decorative image" for
> every Artifact in a PDF document that is a decorative image.
>
> So, We are at that awkward stage where we have tools to help those of us
> who
> are document authors but the tools are not backward compatible and the
> adaptive technology has not caught up.
>
> Am not saying don't use this feature in Office 365/2016+ subscription, but
> am saying that there are currently gaps in how this information is rendered
> to other versions of Office and the end-user.
>
> I do use the ability to mark images as Artifacts/decorative in Office as I
> only publish in accessible PDF format and this makes life easier and less
> complicated when it comes to images that are Artifacts/decorative.
>
> Cheers, Karen
>
>