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Re: question about Div tags and content images

for

From: Tim Beadle
Date: Jan 28, 2005 3:18AM


"mmoore" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote
on 27/01/2005 22:12:51:
> Yes, you have hit the nail on the head. &nbsp;CSS and the <div>
element are
> being used improperly in the above example. &nbsp;The proper way to
have
> placed the image would have been. &nbsp;<div><img ... alt="description
of
> image" ... /></div> &nbsp;If as you describe the image
is just text then the
> best method &nbsp;would be <div class="foo" id="bar"
><p class="foo"
> &nbsp;>Text</p></div> Feel free to substitute your
own structurally
> appropriate text presentation elements. &nbsp;class and id are optional

> attributes in the above example.

Image-replacement should be used when an image is
purely presentational, and should replace (hence the name) some text that
reads the same as that in the image. It's often used for styled headlines,
logos etc.

I'd just like to point out that not all IR techniques
are the same, and the original (Fahrner Image Replacement - FIR) is now
deprecated, *precisely* because it uses display: none to hide the text,
which ends up not being read by AT devices.

There are, however, replacement Replacement techniques
(!) that have remained accessible.
Joe Clark did an article here which critiques the
FIR method and suggests ways forward:
&nbsp;- http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fir/

Douglas Bowman, the designer of the Wired.com CSS-based
redesign and who popularised FIR's use, wrote:
"The original technique (FIR) described in the
body of this article is no longer recommended for use, as it makes the
hidden text completely inaccessible for certain screen readers. Instead,
see one of the alternative techniques mentioned at the end of the article
under 'Important Notes'."
&nbsp;- http://stopdesign.com/articles/replace_text/

To the accessibility advocates I would just say that
there are a lot of standards-based designers out there that are chasing
the same goals as you, i.e. accessibility, fast page load times, well-structured
documents etc etc. Please don't write off their efforts, but rather seek
to work together to create a beautiful, semantic, accessible web.

Best regards,

Tim Beadle


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