WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: When Should You Show Web Content Only To Screen, Readers

for

From: Peter Shikli
Date: Oct 12, 2019 12:38PM

Jim,

We encounter this often in our growing business of making maps
accessible.  Lots more to say about that than will fit here, but suffice
it to say that we find ourselves using the longdesc tag to explain map
content to the disabled, explanations available to sighted users only
through the longdesc they are unlikely to use, but explanations they are
unlikely to need.

We have encountered situations where the longdesc includes tabular
versions of map content the blind find so useful that our clients have
moved that from the longdesc to the main content for everyone to use. 
Intermediate solutions include adding a "map narrative" or a "map data
tables" link for all to follow.

From a compliance standpoint, we see this as no more reverse
discrimination against sighted users than an ALT attribute, which screen
readers use without browsers displaying it to sighted users, though they
can easily take the trouble to see it, as they can a longdesc.

Cheers,
Peter Shikli
Access2online