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Re: CSS Photo Shuffler Accessibility

for

From: Laura Carlson
Date: Nov 14, 2006 8:20AM

Keith Parks wrote:

> And so the long description on the initial image would need to
> describe the whole series of images, something like "A series of
> five photographs. The first photo is of the Oregon coast line. The
> second photo show a pathway on a bluff above the water. The third
> photo shows two boys running in the surf..." etc.
>
> Or am I misunderstanding the proper use of a longdesc link?

I think you got it Keith. Thanks to Sandra and Stephanie for bringing
up the no alt for the image sequence issue. And thanks to Darrel for
the decorative fluff vs content review.

This seems to be the same type of problem we used to have with animated
gifs in the 'old' days. If the animated gif was indeed content and not
fluff, the way around it [1] was to have the initial image:

- Use alt text that reflected the most representative frame.
- Use a title to mention it was an animation or related information.
- Use a longdesc [2] to describe the complete animation.

Emma's idea of captions for the images would also help people who have
JS enabled.

But there is still the problem of no on/off control. Some people may be
unable to tune animations out and concentrate on the actual page
content. They may be sensitive to movement and have difficulty focusing
and the page may become difficult to read.

Best Regards,
Laura

[1] http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter06.html#h2-3545
[2] http://www.webaim.org/techniques/images/longdesc.php#longdesc

___________________________________________
Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdesign/