WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

annotation alt text question

for

From: Laura Roberts
Date: Jul 30, 2024 9:26AM

I noticed that Adobe preflight updated the annotation alt text to include
both the hyperlinked text and the URL.
You see the URL if you hover on the hyperlink.

Screen readers read a bunch of gobbledy-gook for some URL's.
make up example:
www.you.tu.be.com/192378902&;t=1m03s?si=2osk2kl

screen reader will say:
www dot you.too.bee.com 19 billion 237 thousand 902 and t equals 1m03s
(raise voice for question) sigh=2 osk 2 k l.

I can make the screen reader read it correctly by making this alt text:
www.you.t u.b e.com/1 9 2 3 7 8 9 0 2 ampersand t=1 m 0 3 s question mark s
i=2 o s k 2 k l

However, the alt text would display on hover. (TBH when it comes to that,
my attitude is that alt text is not meant for abled users - so if they
don't like it, tough cookies.)

What I really want to know is whether people using AT prefer the URL to be
left as is or not. Do they prefer to change the setting in JAWS or NVDA to
read each character when they encounter a URL? Or would they prefer alt
text to save them from doing that?
(Maybe Karen could weigh in!)

--
Best regards,
Laura Roberts
413-588-8422