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Re: JAWS 4.01 and Images as Text for Headings

for

From: jukka.korpela@tieke.fi
Date: Feb 7, 2002 1:07AM


Ethan Snyder wrote:

> On a new web site, we will be using images to represent headings text.
For example:
> <H2><IMG SRC="news_header.gif" ALT="Company News"></H2>
> instead of
> <H2>Company News</H2>
> I know that this practice is discouraged by W3C, but it is a requirement
from
> our client (for aesthetic purposes).

I think it's fairly mildly discouraged if at all. You are correctly using
an appropriate ALT attribute and logical markup. I don't find any specific
statement against such usage in WAI guidelines.

There are practical accessibility considerations, however, that favor the
use of text as text rather than text in image format, even when the latter
is used as above. In particular, the size of an image is fixed, so text in
it does not adapt to the user-selected font size. Similarly, colors might
be a problem. And then there's the point that - as you have observed - not
all clients can really treat ALT texts as textual content. Sorry, I have no
solution to propose to the JAWS problem when an image is used.

But could you try to achieve the desired visual presentation in other ways?
If you used style sheets, with suitable font-family, color, and other
properties for the H2 element, the majority of users of graphic browsers
would see it as intended, and the heading text would still be text,
logically and as regards to what programs "see". Provided, of course, that
you can find a set of CSS rules that reasonably well corresponds to the
style now used in the image. This might be a problem especially as regards
to font-family, since there is a very limited set of fonts that can be
assumed to be in use in most browsing situations.

--
Jukka K. Korpela, erityisasiantuntija / senior adviser
TIEKE Tietoyhteiskunnan kehitt