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Thread: "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?

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From: Joachim Lindenberg
Date: Fri, Jun 24 2022 7:19AM
Subject: "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?
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Hello,

and also thanks for the WebAIM WAVE tool that I started using today to improve accessibility of some of my web pages.

I am struggling with two issues right now, mix of lack of understanding and tool knowledge..

1. Links to PDFs. Most of the PDFs are also not accessible and some of them likely will never be. I am now adding an icon after PDF links and aria-label âlink to PDF, not accessibleâ (actually in German). Not sure this use of aria-label is adequate. Can someone share insights please? Also the WAVE tool does complain despite these additions, is there a way to suppress the warning?
2. I do have some HTML pages that display email conversations but for privacy reasons names and addresses etc. are blackened. The HTML markup looks like ********. WAVE complains about low contrast. Sure! Again, I can add aria-label or the like if that is acceptable. And again, can one stop WAVE to complain?

Thanks a lot for any suggestions or insights.

Joachim

From: Erick Wilder
Date: Fri, Jun 24 2022 7:46AM
Subject: Re: "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?
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Hello Joachim,

I don't have experience about the pdf ideia you raised however I may chip
in the web page validation issue

The way I see is that the asterisks in the web page added inside the span
tag are unnecessary and I assume they're mostly there to keep help with
styling with CSS(?). My recommendation here would be to use a relevant
content instead. That content should be visually hidden and avoid changing
the text color to black.

Example

Redacted
text

CSS for redacted text should focus on creating a black box considering that
text color should still be accessible

The visually hidden class will ensure nothing is shown in the UI, making
the use of background and colour as black unnecessarily

Note: I'm no copywriter and the actual text need to be validated with users
of assistive technologies if possible (I.e. maybe using âredacted emailâ,
âredacted addressâ instead of a generic text)

On Fri, 24 Jun 2022 at 15:21, Joachim Lindenberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> and also thanks for the WebAIM WAVE tool that I started using today to
> improve accessibility of some of my web pages.
>
> I am struggling with two issues right now, mix of lack of understanding
> and tool knowledge..
>
> 1. Links to PDFs. Most of the PDFs are also not accessible and some
> of them likely will never be. I am now adding an icon after PDF links and
> aria-label âlink to PDF, not accessibleâ (actually in German). Not sure
> this use of aria-label is adequate. Can someone share insights please? Also
> the WAVE tool does complain despite these additions, is there a way to
> suppress the warning?
> 2. I do have some HTML pages that display email conversations but for
> privacy reasons names and addresses etc. are blackened. The HTML markup
> looks like style="background-color:black;color:black;">********. WAVE complains
> about low contrast. Sure! Again, I can add aria-label or the like if that
> is acceptable. And again, can one stop WAVE to complain?
>
> Thanks a lot for any suggestions or insights.
>
> Joachim
>
> > > > >
--
Enviado do Gmail para celular

From: Joachim Lindenberg
Date: Fri, Jun 24 2022 9:08AM
Subject: Re: "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?
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Hello Erick,
thanks for the suggestion. Actually the * represent the redacted characters and ensure proper spacing. I experimented with explicit width on the span, but couldnÂ´t get that to work as expected (also considering text wrap), probably because I am not too familiar with CSS either. If I translate "visually-hidden" to "display:none;" it will run into zero space being used, and that is not the appearance I am after. Or what CSS do you have in mind?
Thanks,
Joachi

-----UrsprÃ¼ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: WebAIM-Forum <> Im Auftrag von Erick Wilder
Gesendet: Friday, 24 June 2022 15:47
An: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Betreff: Re: [WebAIM] "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?

Hello Joachim,

I don't have experience about the pdf ideia you raised however I may chip in the web page validation issue

The way I see is that the asterisks in the web page added inside the span tag are unnecessary and I assume they're mostly there to keep help with styling with CSS(?). My recommendation here would be to use a relevant content instead. That content should be visually hidden and avoid changing the text color to black.

Example

Redacted text

CSS for redacted text should focus on creating a black box considering that text color should still be accessible

The visually hidden class will ensure nothing is shown in the UI, making the use of background and colour as black unnecessarily

Note: I'm no copywriter and the actual text need to be validated with users of assistive technologies if possible (I.e. maybe using âredacted emailâ, âredacted addressâ instead of a generic text)

On Fri, 24 Jun 2022 at 15:21, Joachim Lindenberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> and also thanks for the WebAIM WAVE tool that I started using today to
> improve accessibility of some of my web pages.
>
> I am struggling with two issues right now, mix of lack of
> understanding and tool knowledge..
>
> 1. Links to PDFs. Most of the PDFs are also not accessible and some
> of them likely will never be. I am now adding an icon after PDF links
> and aria-label âlink to PDF, not accessibleâ (actually in German). Not
> sure this use of aria-label is adequate. Can someone share insights
> please? Also the WAVE tool does complain despite these additions, is
> there a way to suppress the warning?
> 2. I do have some HTML pages that display email conversations but for
> privacy reasons names and addresses etc. are blackened. The HTML
> markup looks like style="background-color:black;color:black;">********. WAVE
> complains about low contrast. Sure! Again, I can add aria-label or the
> like if that is acceptable. And again, can one stop WAVE to complain?
>
> Thanks a lot for any suggestions or insights.
>
> Joachim
>
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >
--
Enviado do Gmail para celular

From: Erick Wilder
Date: Fri, Jun 24 2022 9:20AM
Subject: Re: "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?
← Previous message | Next message →

In this case visually hidden *must not* be translated to a display: none as
this will remove the element from the accessibility tree, making it
inaccessible.

You may check sr-only class of major UI frameworks like bootstrap for
examples of how to implement a visually hidden content.

Question: why don't you render âRedacted textâ in the black box for *all
users*? I'm trying to think about neuro diversity here and maybe the black
box _with the textual content visible_ may be useful for someone with
reading disabilities to better understand what the purpose of the black
boxes are.

On Fri, 24 Jun 2022 at 17:09, Joachim Lindenberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> Hello Erick,
> thanks for the suggestion. Actually the * represent the redacted
> characters and ensure proper spacing. I experimented with explicit width on
> the span, but couldnÂ´t get that to work as expected (also considering text
> wrap), probably because I am not too familiar with CSS either. If I
> translate "visually-hidden" to "display:none;" it will run into zero space
> being used, and that is not the appearance I am after. Or what CSS do you
> have in mind?
> Thanks,
> Joachi
>
> -----UrsprÃ¼ngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: WebAIM-Forum <> Im Auftrag von Erick Wilder
> Gesendet: Friday, 24 June 2022 15:47
> An: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Betreff: Re: [WebAIM] "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend
> content?
>
> Hello Joachim,
>
> I don't have experience about the pdf ideia you raised however I may chip
> in the web page validation issue
>
> The way I see is that the asterisks in the web page added inside the span
> tag are unnecessary and I assume they're mostly there to keep help with
> styling with CSS(?). My recommendation here would be to use a relevant
> content instead. That content should be visually hidden and avoid changing
> the text color to black.
>
> Example
>
> Redacted
> text
>
> CSS for redacted text should focus on creating a black box considering
> that text color should still be accessible
>
> The visually hidden class will ensure nothing is shown in the UI, making
> the use of background and colour as black unnecessarily
>
> Note: I'm no copywriter and the actual text need to be validated with
> users of assistive technologies if possible (I.e. maybe using âredacted
> emailâ, âredacted addressâ instead of a generic text)
>
> On Fri, 24 Jun 2022 at 15:21, Joachim Lindenberg < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > and also thanks for the WebAIM WAVE tool that I started using today to
> > improve accessibility of some of my web pages.
> >
> > I am struggling with two issues right now, mix of lack of
> > understanding and tool knowledge..
> >
> > 1. Links to PDFs. Most of the PDFs are also not accessible and some
> > of them likely will never be. I am now adding an icon after PDF links
> > and aria-label âlink to PDF, not accessibleâ (actually in German). Not
> > sure this use of aria-label is adequate. Can someone share insights
> > please? Also the WAVE tool does complain despite these additions, is
> > there a way to suppress the warning?
> > 2. I do have some HTML pages that display email conversations but
> for
> > privacy reasons names and addresses etc. are blackened. The HTML
> > markup looks like > style="background-color:black;color:black;">********. WAVE
> > complains about low contrast. Sure! Again, I can add aria-label or the
> > like if that is acceptable. And again, can one stop WAVE to complain?
> >
> > Thanks a lot for any suggestions or insights.
> >
> > Joachim
> >
> > > > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > >
> --
> Enviado do Gmail para celular
> > > at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >
> > > > >
--
Enviado do Gmail para celular

From: Hayman, Douglass
Date: Fri, Jun 24 2022 10:22AM
Subject: Re: - "labelling" links to inaccessible PDFs, blackend content?
← Previous message | No next message

Joachim,

On the first part you ask that seems to be a compromise, to say "Here is a link to something inaccessible." If on the other hand you have the same content in accessible html and then inaccessible PDF file that would be better. I believe that many of these automated tools will scan and find PDFs and provide a warning simply to then have the person using the accessibility tool do the next process of manually checking that PDF for accessibility. Same would be the case for ALT tags where one could throw in gibberish like ALT="random words" and it would technically have ALT text but then next you'd need to make sure that this text was adequate.

As for your second part, I'd looked at the accessibility of a few vendors who make software for public records request administrators. In those it seemed that they would put in "redacted for privacy" or similar wording. Otherwise if one was using a screen reader and it was marked as decorative, what was read out loud would not make sense along the lines of:

1. I handed the packet to "redacted for privacy" and she stuck it in her briefcase.

Versus

2. I handed the packet to and she stuck it in her briefcase.

One might need to slightly vary the ALT for each so that doesn't get flagged when the same ALT text describes multiple images.

Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
(360) 475-7632