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Thread: Images in HTML e-mails

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Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)

From: Ritz, Courtney L. (GSFC-7500)
Date: Mon, Sep 13 2010 8:06AM
Subject: Images in HTML e-mails
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Hi,

I myself do not create e-mails with images in them, but many folksin my organization do.
I have found instructions for adding ALT text to images in MS Word, and it is my understanding that they should carry over to an HTML e-mail with no problem. But it is also my understanding that Outlook 2007 does not display the ALT text for those images.

Any pointers that you'd recommend I pass along to those who insist on using images in their e-mails? Our issue right now is that people are sending out official announcements via e-mail and some of the actual content is in the images, which is why the ALT text is so important. In the interim, I'm suggesting that they make sure that any content essential to the announcement be directly in the text content and not in the images, until we figure out what to do with them.

Thanks so much!

Courtney

From: Karlen Communications
Date: Mon, Sep 13 2010 8:21AM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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I do add Alt text for images in my Outlook messages but since many screen
readers can't find it, I also add a caption to my images. I can do this in
Outlook 2007 or 2010.

I do get a lot of HTML based messages with no Alt Text or Alt Text my screen
reader can't find. I just delete those if most of the content is in an
image/lot of advertising or newsletters.

I do look for content in a text based form but more and more HTML based
messages are image-only. I would support information available in text
format as well as the images.

Cheers, Karen

From: Jan McBreen
Date: Mon, Sep 13 2010 12:15PM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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I'm very new to all of this. Can a screen reader manage a table structure
within an html email?

Thank you,
Jan

From: Karlen Communications
Date: Mon, Sep 13 2010 12:48PM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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Not always which is why I have the "view in browser" item on my Quick Access
toolbar in Outlook. I can quickly open the e-mail message in IE or Firefox
and read it.

Cheers, Karen

From: Jeevan Reddy
Date: Mon, Sep 13 2010 10:27PM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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Hello!
Can you check whether your outlook2007 editor is HTML, if not try to change
editor from plane or rich text to HTML, you may notice reading alt text of
the images in the mails
Best Regards,
Jeevan.

On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 7:34 PM, Ritz, Courtney L. (GSFC-7500) <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I myself do not create e-mails with images in them, but many folksin my
> organization do.
> I have found instructions for adding ALT text to images in MS Word, and it
> is my understanding that they should carry over to an HTML e-mail with no
> problem. But it is also my understanding that Outlook 2007 does not display
> the ALT text for those images.
>
> Any pointers that you'd recommend I pass along to those who insist on using
> images in their e-mails? Our issue right now is that people are sending out
> official announcements via e-mail and some of the actual content is in the
> images, which is why the ALT text is so important. In the interim, I'm
> suggesting that they make sure that any content essential to the
> announcement be directly in the text content and not in the images, until we
> figure out what to do with them.
>
> Thanks so much!
>
> Courtney
>

From: ckrugman
Date: Fri, Sep 17 2010 10:30PM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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As a JAWS user I find that unless they are labeled appropriately they are
not read. This is quite common where such things as invitations will be
presented in a totally graphic format making them unreadable with screen
reading software. I generally recommend that this method not be used and as
a potential attendee to an event or donor to a cause I reply suggesting that
if they want my attendance or money they need to comply with an accessible
format.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ritz, Courtney L. (GSFC-7500)" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 7:04 AM
Subject: [WebAIM] Images in HTML e-mails


> Hi,
>
> I myself do not create e-mails with images in them, but many folksin my
> organization do.
> I have found instructions for adding ALT text to images in MS Word, and it
> is my understanding that they should carry over to an HTML e-mail with no
> problem. But it is also my understanding that Outlook 2007 does not
> display the ALT text for those images.
>
> Any pointers that you'd recommend I pass along to those who insist on
> using images in their e-mails? Our issue right now is that people are
> sending out official announcements via e-mail and some of the actual
> content is in the images, which is why the ALT text is so important. In
> the interim, I'm suggesting that they make sure that any content essential
> to the announcement be directly in the text content and not in the images,
> until we figure out what to do with them.
>
> Thanks so much!
>
> Courtney
>

From: Ritz, Courtney L. (GSFC-7500)
Date: Wed, Sep 22 2010 1:21PM
Subject: Re: Images in HTML e-mails
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Thanks all for your suggestions and insights.

Chuck, U too get these all-graphical invitations and they're the worst.

I ended up recommending here in my organization that people creating such e-mails just keep the content text-based and use images as decorations only.

thanks all for your suggestions and insights on this.

Courtney