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Re: Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

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From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Jun 27, 2019 7:17AM

Hi Karen, I would expect to not have the new alt text panel in .doc format with Word 365 -- but I can't seem to find the old format object and old alt text (title/description) fields eithers - that was my biggest concern - have they moved somewhere different? Word 365 seems to treat them differently as pictures rather than as objects.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Karlen Communications
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2019 7:07 AM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

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This is what I meant when I said that the features/tools were not backward compatible. You have to update the file format to the latest version/version that matches your version of Word in order to be able to use tools like the Alt text Pane, Mark as Decorative and to use the Accessibility Checker.

The accessibility checker has always required files to be updated to the corresponding version of Word you are using. It would not work on .doc files. Only .docx files matching your Word version.

Even now, for some documents I started on last year and open in an updated version of Word, I get the update to latest version notification when I add content and go to save them.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Jonathan Avila
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 9:56 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

Bevi, I agree that something odd has happened in Word. I'm no longer able
to add alt text to images in .doc format -- only .docx. The accessibility checker also does not work in .doc format -- I thought it used to.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of <EMAIL REMOVED>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 6:10 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

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I think there's something wacky with the new Alt-text utility.
Sometimes the Decorative checkbox is there, sometimes not.

If I click and use the Alt-Text utility on Format Picture, it has the Title and Description fields, but no decorative option.

If instead I right-click and use the new-ish Edit Alt Text that's in the context-sensitive menu, that version just has the Alt-text field. And still no decorative option.

We had the decorative checkbox earlier in the year, and then it went away, came back, and went away again with each update to Word. This has happened with both our 365 subscriptions and traditional installations.

And yes, we're up to date on all of them.

It's just plain weird!

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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Karlen Communications
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 2:42 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

Yes, the Title field is gone. There is just the Description field, a button to automatically generate Alt Text if you have that turned on (Intelligent
Services) and the Mark as Decorative check box.

None of these will be available in earlier versions of Office as far as I know. They are only available in an Office 365 subscription version.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Jonathan Avila
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 2:08 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

I've had the decorative checkbox in Word 365 on Windows for months. I no longer have a title and description field -- just an alt text field.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of glen walker
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 1:55 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Microsoft Word: Decorative Image Accessibility

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In my version of Word 2016 (on a PC), there is not a "decorative" option for images. I know *Powerpoint* 2019 added a "decorative" checkbox. Not sure about Word 2019. I'm just double checking what version of Word you're using and where you're seeing the decorative checkbox. When I run the a11y checking in Word 2016, there's no mention of making decorative images.

And just one clarification, and it's kind of a nit-pick, but you said a blank alt text makes an image decorative for the web. I wanted to make sure you meant an empty alt text (quote-quote) and not a single blank character as the alt text. The latter is seen as a valid alt text and will read the blank. An empty alt text will essentially hide the image.


On Wed, Jun 26, 2019 at 10:33 AM Jim Homme < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi,
> This is with Word 2016.
>
>
> * The accessibility checker wants me to mark decorative images with a
> check box.
> * When I do that, JAWS says the word "Decorative" for these images.
> * NVDA does not say anything for these same images, unless I use the
> Advanced settings and use the experimental UIA settings.
> * On the web, blank alt text makes decorative images disappear for
> both screen readers.
> * I was lead to believe that if I put a single space as the alt text
> in Word, that a screen reader would ignore any image with a single
> space as alt text.
> * As a screen reader user, I am used to not hearing anything for
> decorative images, because this is how I was trained it should work.
>
> My question is: How should this work, since I do not necessarily know
> which screen reader a person might have when they read my Word document?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> ==========
> Jim Homme
> Digital Accessibility
> Bender Consulting Services
> 412-787-8567
>
> https://www.benderconsult.com/our%20services/hightest-accessible-techn
> ology-solutions
>
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> >