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Re: alt text and captions

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Feb 5, 2004 10:02AM

Rachel-

The key with alt text is to provide an equivalent alternative to the
non-text element. How that is done is up to you. The wording of WCAG
1.0 and Section 508 is, "Provide a text equivalent for every non-text
element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content)."

The key in your situation is "in element content". You are providing
the alternative to the image. So in your case, I would think that
alt="" is perfectly sufficient for the image, assuming that the
caption is in accessible text form on the page and not part of the image
itself.

Jared Smith
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University



***************
On Thursday, February 05, 2004 you sent:
> Hello!

> I've got a question about graphics, alt text, and captions. Not
> captions as in open- or closed-captioning, but captions as in the text
> that sometimes occurs under pictures.

> If a graphic is being used on a web site, and its caption is essentially
> a description of the picture being shown, what should be in the alt
> text? Right now, the caption and the alt text are identical, and we're
> wondering if that's a usability issue, or if it's just plain redundant
> and annoying, or what? How does one handle repetitive text like that?
> I suspect that a blank alt attribute (<alt="">) is inappropriate.

> Thanks in advance for your help, and please feel free to point me
> somewhere if this has already been discussed (but I checked the recent
> archives and didn't see it).

> -Rachel




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