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Thread: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt

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Number of posts in this thread: 11 (In chronological order)

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 10:50AM
Subject: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
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As many people probably know, A-Prompt is one of the best available tools
for automatic testing of some accessibility issues as well as fixing some
problems as they are detected. Unfortunately it seems that the software is
not under any development or maintenance. (It's available for free from
http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ )

Now, while writing some instructions for using it, I noticed that I cannot
find a way to specify an empty alt text, alt="", when fixing a page with
A-Prompt. It refuses to accept a change if I specify nothing in the text
box for alt text. What I am currently suggesting is the use of a space and
either leaving it at that (since alt=" " seldom causes problems when
alt="" would have be the most adequate choice) or fixing alt=" " later
using one's favorite authoring problem.

But is there a simpler way? The documentation of A-Prompt clearly mentions
that alt="" is often adequate, so its authors clearly did not
_mean_ to prevent specifying an empty alt text.

--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/


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From: James Gagnier
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:01AM
Subject: Legal aspects of web accessibility
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Hello everyone.

I am looking into individual state legislation pertaining to web
accessibility for a project I'm working on. Is there a resource that would
have all 50 states policies and regulations pertaining to web accessibility?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

James




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From: John Foliot - WATS.ca
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:05AM
Subject: RE: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
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Jukka,

As I recall, inserting a space between the quotation marks causes issues
with JAWS (as I recall, instead of ignoring the useless image, the blank
space draws attention to it...). As well, should a user mouse over the
non-essential image in a browser such as IE 5 or 6 the small blank "tool
tip" appears... disconcerting if nothing else, and a cause of "problems" to
the non-initiated, visual task masters many of us need to report to... I
would strongly urge not doing this.

JF
--
John Foliot = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jukka K. Korpela [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:44 PM
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Subject: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
>
>
> As many people probably know, A-Prompt is one of the best available tools
> for automatic testing of some accessibility issues as well as fixing some
> problems as they are detected. Unfortunately it seems that the software is
> not under any development or maintenance. (It's available for free from
> http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ )
>
> Now, while writing some instructions for using it, I noticed that I cannot
> find a way to specify an empty alt text, alt="", when fixing a page with
> A-Prompt. It refuses to accept a change if I specify nothing in the text
> box for alt text. What I am currently suggesting is the use of a space and
> either leaving it at that (since alt=" " seldom causes problems when
> alt="" would have be the most adequate choice) or fixing alt=" " later
> using one's favorite authoring problem.
>
> But is there a simpler way? The documentation of A-Prompt clearly mentions
> that alt="" is often adequate, so its authors clearly did not
> _mean_ to prevent specifying an empty alt text.
>
> --
> Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
>
>
> ----
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>
>
>



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From: James Gagnier
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:14AM
Subject: Re: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
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If I can suggest, if the tool doesn't like to place alt="", but has no
problem with placing a space between the quotes, why not just let it do it
and then use a global search and replace and search for alt=" " and replace
with alt="".

That should work.

James

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Foliot - WATS.ca" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:59 PM
Subject: RE: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt


Jukka,

As I recall, inserting a space between the quotation marks causes issues
with JAWS (as I recall, instead of ignoring the useless image, the blank
space draws attention to it...). As well, should a user mouse over the
non-essential image in a browser such as IE 5 or 6 the small blank "tool
tip" appears... disconcerting if nothing else, and a cause of "problems" to
the non-initiated, visual task masters many of us need to report to... I
would strongly urge not doing this.

JF
--
John Foliot = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jukka K. Korpela [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:44 PM
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Subject: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
>
>
> As many people probably know, A-Prompt is one of the best available tools
> for automatic testing of some accessibility issues as well as fixing some
> problems as they are detected. Unfortunately it seems that the software is
> not under any development or maintenance. (It's available for free from
> http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ )
>
> Now, while writing some instructions for using it, I noticed that I cannot
> find a way to specify an empty alt text, alt="", when fixing a page with
> A-Prompt. It refuses to accept a change if I specify nothing in the text
> box for alt text. What I am currently suggesting is the use of a space and
> either leaving it at that (since alt=" " seldom causes problems when
> alt="" would have be the most adequate choice) or fixing alt=" " later
> using one's favorite authoring problem.
>
> But is there a simpler way? The documentation of A-Prompt clearly mentions
> that alt="" is often adequate, so its authors clearly did not
> _mean_ to prevent specifying an empty alt text.
>
> --
> Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
>
>
> ----
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
> visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>
>
>



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From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:27AM
Subject: Re: Legal aspects of web accessibility
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James-

The two were found in a quick google search and seem to be pretty good
resources, though I don't know how up-to-date they are.

http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/USA-States.html

http://www.ittatc.org/laws/stateLawAtGlance.cfm


Jared Smith
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University



***************
On Tuesday, October 28, 2003 you sent:
JG> Hello everyone.

JG> I am looking into individual state legislation pertaining to web
JG> accessibility for a project I'm working on. Is there a resource that would
JG> have all 50 states policies and regulations pertaining to web accessibility?
JG> Any help would be appreciated.

JG> Thanks.

JG> James

***************


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From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:33AM
Subject: Re: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
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One approach is to add a sting such as "XXXXX" for each image that
should have empty ("") alt text. When you're done, do a global find
and replace in your code for that string and replace it with nothing.
This is also useful for users of Dreamweaver 4 or earlier, which did
not allow empty alt text. For people that are not comfortable getting
into the code to edit alt attributes, this provides an easy way in
which to make images with empty alt text. However, if not done
correctly, the results could be worse than having no alt attribute at
all.

Jared Smith
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind)
Center for Persons with Disabilities
Utah State University



***************
On Tuesday, October 28, 2003 you sent:
JKK> As many people probably know, A-Prompt is one of the best available tools
JKK> for automatic testing of some accessibility issues as well as fixing some
JKK> problems as they are detected. Unfortunately it seems that the software is
JKK> not under any development or maintenance. (It's available for free from
JKK> http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ )

JKK> Now, while writing some instructions for using it, I noticed that I cannot
JKK> find a way to specify an empty alt text, alt="", when fixing a page with
JKK> A-Prompt. It refuses to accept a change if I specify nothing in the text
JKK> box for alt text. What I am currently suggesting is the use of a space and
JKK> either leaving it at that (since alt=" " seldom causes problems when
JKK> alt="" would have be the most adequate choice) or fixing alt=" " later
JKK> using one's favorite authoring problem.

JKK> But is there a simpler way? The documentation of A-Prompt clearly mentions
JKK> that alt="" is often adequate, so its authors clearly did not
JKK> _mean_ to prevent specifying an empty alt text.


***************


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From: Michael D. Roush
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 11:34AM
Subject: Re: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt
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Just what sort of image is it that you are trying to put blank alt text
with? If it's just a spacer, you should use style sheets or some other
method to achieve the spacing. This alleviates the problem of trying to
figure out what to use for alt text altogether. Do you have a code sample
or something that we can see?

Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jukka K. Korpela" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Specifying empty alt text in A-Prompt


> But is there a simpler way? The documentation of A-Prompt clearly mentions
> that alt="" is often adequate, so its authors clearly did not
> _mean_ to prevent specifying an empty alt text.


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From: Sarah Brainard
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 12:16PM
Subject: Re: Legal aspects of web accessibility
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Try this http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/USA-States.html

United States: State Policies Relating to Web Accessibility


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From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Tue, Oct 28 2003 1:21PM
Subject: Re: Legal aspects of web accessibility
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James,
Information Technology and Technical Assistance Training Center at Georgia
Tech has a list of state requirements

http://www.ittatc.org/laws/state_intro.cfm

Jon


At 12:55 PM 10/28/2003 -0500, James Gagnier wrote:
>Hello everyone.
>
>I am looking into individual state legislation pertaining to web
>accessibility for a project I'm working on. Is there a resource that would
>have all 50 states policies and regulations pertaining to web accessibility?
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks.
>
>James
>
>
>
>
>----
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
>visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820

Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248

E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund



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From: Michael Goddard
Date: Wed, Oct 29 2003 8:09AM
Subject: HTML Validator Software?
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I don't know for sure if this is the right forum to ask this question
however I am looking into getting our company to purchase some HTML
validation software that can be ran from a users' desktop (Win 98, 2000 and
XP Pro) that not only can validate local files but also online files.

I am currently trying to get the company to enforce a valid HTML 4.01/XHTML
code standard (there are 3 other HTML and PHP programmers working in the web
department who could care less) and currently I have been checking all of my
work via http://validator.w3.org/

I know there are a few desktop validators out there. CSE and "A Real
Validator". Any recommendations and / or thoughts?

Thank you,

Michael Goddard




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From: Kelly Hokkanen
Date: Wed, Oct 29 2003 2:43PM
Subject: RE: Legal aspects of web accessibility
← Previous message | No next message

Hello James,
You may have already found what you need, but just in case:

Most states that have a web accessibility policy now have it linked from
their state's home page, such as ours at www.maine.gov. The default
format for state government sites is www.state.me.us, where "me" would
be replaced by the 2-letter abbreviation for each state.

Kelly
-----------------------------
Kelly Hokkanen
Director of Creative Services
InforME: Information Resource of Maine
(207)621-2600 x28
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
www.maine.gov


At 12:55 PM 10/28/2003 -0500, James Gagnier wrote:
>Hello everyone.
>
>I am looking into individual state legislation pertaining to web
>accessibility for a project I'm working on. Is there a resource that
>would have all 50 states policies and regulations pertaining to web
>accessibility? Any help would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks.
>
>James
>
>
>
>




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