WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Reference tag with ALT text

for

From: chagnon@pubcom.com
Date: Apr 22, 2020 9:01AM

No, that construct is incorrect.

Refer to the PDF Association's Syntax Guide at https://www.pdfa.org/resource/tagged-pdf-best-practice-guide-syntax/, specifically sections 4.2.7 <Note> and 4.2.8 <Reference>

There's no need to have Alt-text on the standard construct. If the Alt-text just repeats the exact live word content in the PDF, then it provides no additional information whatsoever, and may also remove some functionality/controls for the A T user.

Trying to envision what this looks like: <Quote> The Reference tag has as its Alt text the actual content of the footnote. The content is not in a Paragraph tag inside the Reference, as I have usually seen. There's no tag elsewhere in the tag tree for that content. <End Quote>

If the actual content of the footnote is in Alt-text on the <Reference> tag, then how do other users get access to or see the footnote? Alt-text is generally available only by screen readers and other text-to-voice A T.

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | <EMAIL REMOVED>
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —
Latest blog-newsletter – Accessibility Tips at www.PubCom.com/blog

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Alan Zaitchik
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 10:03 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Reference tag with ALT text

I just saw something I never knew could be done. Works in JAWS, but I'd like to know if this is legit.
In a PDF table there's a numbered footnote reference. The author created a Note tag around the number and added an empty Reference tag inside the Note. The Reference tag has as its Alt text the actual content of the footnote. The content is not in a Paragraph tag inside the Reference, as I have usually seen. There's no tag elsewhere in the tag tree for that content. It's just the Alt text of the empty Reference tag.
Obviously this forces the user to hear the note while reading the main content, but on the plus side this supports the note's content being reused multiple times since it's just adding multiple Reference tags with the same Alt text.
Is this a common practice? Do all screen readers support Alt text on a Reference tag?
Thanks,
Alan