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Thread: longdesc or aria-describedby for infographic
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Angela French
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2015 6:25PM
Subject: longdesc or aria-describedby for infographic
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Hello,
I have an infographic and have been provided a description for it that is 2313 characters long. I'm wondering whether to use <img longdesc="description...." /> or use aria-describedby and position it off page.
Can anyone advise me as to what is the most preferred by users of screen readers?
Thank you
Angela French
Internet Specialist
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
360-704-4316
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www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
From: deborah.kaplan
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2015 6:38PM
Subject: Re: longdesc or aria-describedby for infographic
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I'd suggest longdesc (with, if you can get away with it, a visible standard link as well for the poor suckers on webkit browsers). This is not because longdesc support is great -- it isn't: http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/longdesctestcases.htm -- but because aria-describedby is not announced as a skippable long description, and will just read through the whole thing like any in page text. 2300 characters seems like a lot to listen to without announced skippability.
Alternately, if you do use describedby, you could:
1. Give it some header text and a "skip to end" link.
2. Make it visually focusable for VI users who don't use screen readers, via a visible link that brings the text on screen.
Deborah
On Tue, 24 Nov 2015, Angela French wrote:
> Hello,
> I have an infographic and have been provided a description for it that is 2313 characters long. I'm wondering whether to use <img longdesc="description...." /> or use aria-describedby and position it off page.
>
> Can anyone advise me as to what is the most preferred by users of screen readers?
>
> Thank you
>
> Angela French
> Internet Specialist
> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
> www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
>
> > > > --
From: Chaals McCathie Nevile
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2015 7:30PM
Subject: Re: longdesc or aria-describedby for infographic
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On Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:38:02 +1100, < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I'd suggest longdesc (with, if you can get away with it, a visible
> standard link as well for the poor suckers on webkit browsers).
As well as those of us who aren't using a screenreader, haven't got a
decent longdesc extension, but can't *clearly* see the image, or can't
readily understand what it means.
> This is not because longdesc support is great -- it isn't:
(It's pretty good in screenreaders other than VoiceOver, and woeful
otherwise without browser extensions ;( ).
> http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/longdesctestcases.htm -- but
> because aria-describedby is not announced as a skippable long
> description, and will just read through the whole thing like any in page
> text.
And pretty much isn't available to people who don't use screenreaders. So
moving stuff off-screen is a pretty bad answer for lots of different
people, for a couple of different reasons.
> 2300 characters seems like a lot to listen to without announced
> skippability.
>
> Alternately, if you do use describedby, you could:
>
> 1. Give it some header text and a "skip to end" link.
> 2. Make it visually focusable for VI users who don't use screen readers,
> via a visible link that brings the text on screen.
Yeah… that's an approach.
cheers
Chaals
> Deborah
>
>
> On Tue, 24 Nov 2015, Angela French wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> I have an infographic and have been provided a description for it that
>> is 2313 characters long. I'm wondering whether to use <img
>> longdesc="description...." /> or use aria-describedby and position it
>> off page.
>>
>> Can anyone advise me as to what is the most preferred by users of
>> screen readers?
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>> Angela French
>> Internet Specialist
>> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
>> 360-704-4316
>> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>> www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
>> www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
>>
>> >> >> >> >
--
Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = - - - Find more at http://yandex.com
From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2015 8:03AM
Subject: Re: longdesc or aria-describedby for infographic
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For a description that long I would either make the image a link to the description, or provide a visible text link to the description. The description could be useful to more folks than just those who use screen readers. If you were to use aria-describedby the description would need to be included in the content of the page and would not allow people to use many of their reading commands to control how they navigate the content. If the description is visible to everyone (not positioned off screen) then aria-describedby would be redundant. I would place the description immediately after the image.
Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)