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

From: Poore-Pariseau, Cindy
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 10:53AM
Subject: alt text
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Is there a known problem with inserting alt text for an image when the image is placed on a CMS?

Cindy Poore-Pariseau, Ph. D.
Bristol Community College
Coordinator of Disability Services
Office of Disability Services, L115

Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Phone: (508) 678-2811 x 2470
Fax: (508) 508-730-3297

From: Carol E Wheeler
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:06AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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On 6/27/2013 12:53, Poore-Pariseau, Cindy wrote:
> Is there a known problem with inserting alt text for an image when the image is placed on a CMS?

I think that depends on which CMS and what constitutes a "problem." In
Convio's CMS while you can insert alt text when uploading an image to
the system, it is only used in rare applications within the system. When
I use an image in a Web page, even when inserting it using the system, I
must still enter the alt text manually in the HTML.

-- cew

*Carol E. Wheeler*

Web Co-ordinator
American Institute for Cancer Research
1759 R Street NW
Washington DC 20009

Direct Dial: 202-600-3001
Tel: 202-328-7744
Fax: 202-328-7226

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.aicr.org

From: McMorland, Gabriel
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:28AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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How is the image placed on the CMS, by a developer on the back-end, or uploaded by a user on the front-end?


We're using blackboard CMS to host online courses and found a non-technical challenge with alt-text for images. Many course activities ask students to upload an image to a discussion board or wikki, but the image will not have alt-text unless the students add it when uploading the image. The students don't know to do this unless we ask them.





-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Carol E Wheeler
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 1:07 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alt text

On 6/27/2013 12:53, Poore-Pariseau, Cindy wrote:
> Is there a known problem with inserting alt text for an image when the image is placed on a CMS?

I think that depends on which CMS and what constitutes a "problem." In Convio's CMS while you can insert alt text when uploading an image to the system, it is only used in rare applications within the system. When I use an image in a Web page, even when inserting it using the system, I must still enter the alt text manually in the HTML.

-- cew

*Carol E. Wheeler*

Web Co-ordinator
American Institute for Cancer Research
1759 R Street NW
Washington DC 20009

Direct Dial: 202-600-3001
Tel: 202-328-7744
Fax: 202-328-7226

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.aicr.org

From: Poore-Pariseau, Cindy
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:36AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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by developer

following is a link to the image I am trying to get ITS to add alt text to, but am told this cannot be done because it is being loaded onto a CMS

http://www.bristol.mass.edu/administration/communications/images/DisabilityIcons/ODS_Sticker.png

Given the purpose of the image, it is essential that a screen reader be able to read the image.


Cindy Poore-Pariseau, Ph. D.
Bristol Community College
Coordinator of Disability Services
Office of Disability Services, L115

Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Phone: (508) 678-2811 x 2470
Fax: (508) 508-730-3297
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of McMorland, Gabriel [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 1:28 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alt text

How is the image placed on the CMS, by a developer on the back-end, or uploaded by a user on the front-end?


We're using blackboard CMS to host online courses and found a non-technical challenge with alt-text for images. Many course activities ask students to upload an image to a discussion board or wikki, but the image will not have alt-text unless the students add it when uploading the image. The students don't know to do this unless we ask them.





-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Carol E Wheeler
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 1:07 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alt text

On 6/27/2013 12:53, Poore-Pariseau, Cindy wrote:
> Is there a known problem with inserting alt text for an image when the image is placed on a CMS?

I think that depends on which CMS and what constitutes a "problem." In Convio's CMS while you can insert alt text when uploading an image to the system, it is only used in rare applications within the system. When I use an image in a Web page, even when inserting it using the system, I must still enter the alt text manually in the HTML.

-- cew

*Carol E. Wheeler*

Web Co-ordinator
American Institute for Cancer Research
1759 R Street NW
Washington DC 20009

Direct Dial: 202-600-3001
Tel: 202-328-7744
Fax: 202-328-7226

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.aicr.org

From: deborah.kaplan@suberic.net
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:45AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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Cindy wrote:

> following is a link to the image I am trying to get ITS to add alt text to, but am told this cannot be done because it is being loaded onto a CMS

What they are telling you didn't have that much meaning in and of itself. Most content management systems can add alternative text to most images, even if it's not always trivial for end-users to do so. Could you get the name of the product for us?

> Given the purpose of the image, it is essential that a screen reader be able to read the image.

Indeed! And because this image is mostly text, the text should be CSS-styled *text*, not an image. The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines say that no text except for logos should be encoded as images, and that's not even complicated styling on that text. The office of disability services, of all places, should be trying to be WCAG conformant. Is there any way you can get them to agree to make that text appear on the page as text, and put up the icon bar below and the QR code as separate images?

Deborah Kaplan
Accessibility Team Co-Lead
Dreamwidth Studios

From: Poore-Pariseau, Cindy
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:49AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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I'm with disability services and I'm trying my hardest . . . . :)


" Sometimes it is better to be kind than right" Amy Grant
Cindy Poore-Pariseau, Ph. D.
Bristol Community College
Coordinator of Disability Services
Office of Disability Services, L115
Fall River, MA 02720
phone: 508-678-2811 ext. 2470
Fax: 508-730-3297
aim: poorepariseau




-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 1:45 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] alt text

Cindy wrote:

> following is a link to the image I am trying to get ITS to add alt
> text to, but am told this cannot be done because it is being loaded
> onto a CMS

What they are telling you didn't have that much meaning in and of itself. Most content management systems can add alternative text to most images, even if it's not always trivial for end-users to do so. Could you get the name of the product for us?

> Given the purpose of the image, it is essential that a screen reader be able to read the image.

Indeed! And because this image is mostly text, the text should be CSS-styled *text*, not an image. The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines say that no text except for logos should be encoded as images, and that's not even complicated styling on that text. The office of disability services, of all places, should be trying to be WCAG conformant. Is there any way you can get them to agree to make that text appear on the page as text, and put up the icon bar below and the QR code as separate images?

Deborah Kaplan
Accessibility Team Co-Lead
Dreamwidth Studios

From: deborah.kaplan@suberic.net
Date: Thu, Jun 27 2013 11:56AM
Subject: Re: alt text
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On Thu, 27 Jun 2013, Poore-Pariseau, Cindy wrote:

> I'm with disability services and I'm trying my hardest . . . . :)

Oh my goodness, Cindy, I rewrote my sentence four times to make sure it didn't come out the wrong way, and I reread it and it totally came out the wrong way! What I meant is that your IT people should be willing to help jump through hoops to make sure that your website, of all the websites on campus, is accessible.

(In my day job I also deal with accessibility at a university, and we are about to be approaching IT to explain that the launch of our new "how to do accessibility" website has to follow all of our own guidelines, which means it's probably not going to be in the University CMS. I'm not looking forward to that conversation. Fun times.)

Apologies!

Deborah Kaplan
Accessibility Team Co-Lead
Dreamwidth Studios