<img src="/media/logo.png" alt="WebAIM logo" longdesc="longdesc.htm">
Tests were conducted in September 2015 with IE11, FF40, Safari 8.0.8 on Mac, iOS 8.4.1, JAWS16, NVDA 2015.3, and Window Eyes 9.2. These were all the most recent versions available at this date.
In no instance does a browser show a visual indication with the image that a long description is present. In some cases, access to the long description is available to users via the context menu (right click on the image), however this menu is not readily available to non-mouse users.
NVDA does not provide instructions by default on how to open long descriptions on images. For non-linked images, pressing Enter will display the long description in NVDA with Firefox. However, for linked images, Enter will activate the link. The key sequence (NVDA + D) will open the long description in all instances, but this key sequence is rather obscure.
Where supported, JAWS opens the long description page in a new tab. In NVDA with Firefox, the long description page opens in a new tab. In NVDA with IE, however, the long description page opens in a new pop-up window. In none of these cases is there an audible indication that a new tab or window has opened. This could cause confusion for users that must close the new tab/window to return to the original page. When the page references an in-page anchor/fragment (Test Case #2), this behavior is particularly troublesome because it loads the entire page again in the new tab/window without indication thus breaking browser navigation, completed forms, posted form data, etc. It seems focusing the fragment in the current page would be a more logical approach.
Window-Eyes did not indicate the presence of long descriptions in any instance. There is a setting buried deep in the options to enable identification of long descriptions, but enabling this option did not have any effect.
<img src="/media/logo.png" alt="WebAIM logo" longdesc="longdesc.htm">
| User agent | Pass/Fail | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| IE 11 |  |
No visual indication of long description on image or context menu. |
| JAWS w/ IE 11 |  |
Long description is indicated with instructions. Activating opens description in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ IE 11 | |
Long desc is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D) opens description in a new pop-up window. |
| WE w/ IE 11 | |
|
| FF |  |
Long description is accessible via View Description context menu (not directly keyboard accessible). Description page opens in the same tab. |
| JAWS w/ FF | |
Long description is indicated with instructions. Activating opens description in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ FF | |
Long description is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D or Enter) opens description in a new tab. |
| WE w/ FF | |
|
| Chrome | |
No visual indication of long description on image or context menu. |
| JAWS w/ Chrome | |
JAWS indicates the long description with instructions, but activating (ALT + Enter) does nothing. |
| NVDA w/ Chrome | |
NVDA does not indicate presence of long description. Activating (NVDA + D) indicates "no long description". |
| Mac Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ Mac Safari | |
|
| iPhone Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ iPhone Safari | |
<img src="/media/logo.png" alt="WebAIM logo" longdesc="#longdesc">
If the referenced element is hidden off-screen, the support does not change in all cases. However, in this case the content does not appear visually. If the element is hidden with display:none or aria-hidden, the behavior is the same, but the long description element is not read.
| User agent | Pass/Fail | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| IE 11 | |
No visual indication on image or context menu of long description |
| JAWS w/ IE 11 | |
JAWS indicates long description and instructions, but when activated it does not navigate to the fragment, but treats the fragment as an absolute URL resulting in a 404 error or incorrect URL displayed in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ IE 11 | |
The long description is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D) opens same page in a new pop-up window and focuses the description fragment. |
| WE w/ IE 11 | |
|
| FF | |
The long description is accessible via View Description context menu (not directly keyboard accessible). When activated, description fragment is focused. |
| JAWS w/ FF | |
The long description is indicated with instructions. Activating opens same page and focuses description fragment in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ FF | |
The long description is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D or Enter) opens description in a new tab. |
| WE w/ FF | |
|
| Chrome | |
No visual indication of long description on image or context menu. |
| JAWS w/ Chrome | |
JAWS indicates the long description with instructions, but activating (ALT + Enter) does nothing. |
| NVDA w/ Chrome | |
NVDA does not indicate presence of long description. Activating (NVDA + D) indicates "no long description". |
| Mac Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ Mac Safari | |
|
| iPhone Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ iPhone Safari | |
<img src="/media/logo.png" alt="WebAIM logo" longdesc="#missing">
Because the fragment is missing in the same page, no indication of a long description should be presented. Blank Pass/Fail cells indicate that long description is not identified (the proper behavior) - not because of the missing longdesc reference, but because there is no support for longdesc (i.e., the lack of support results in proper behavior - hard to call this a "Pass").
| User agent | Pass/Fail | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| IE 11 | ||
| JAWS w/ IE 11 | |
JAWS indicates long description and instructions, but when activated it treats the fragment as an absolute URL resulting in a 404 error or incorrect URL displayed in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ IE 11 | |
The long description is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D) opens same page in a new pop-up window (i.e., it doesn't detect that the referenced element is missing). |
| WE w/ IE 11 | ||
| FF | |
The long description is accessible via View Description context menu (not directly keyboard accessible). When activated, it tries to focus missing fragment resulting in focus at the top of the page. |
| JAWS w/ FF | |
JAWS indicates long description and instructions, but when activated it opens a new top with the same page (i.e., it doesn't detect that the referenced element is missing). |
| NVDA w/ FF | |
NVDA indicates long description, but when activated it opens a new tab with the same page (i.e., it doesn't detect that the referenced element is missing). |
| WE w/ FF | ||
| Chrome | ||
| JAWS w/ Chrome | ||
| NVDA w/ Chrome | ||
| Mac Safari | ||
| VoiceOver w/ Mac Safari | ||
| iPhone Safari | ||
| VoiceOver w/ iPhone Safari |
<img src="/media/logo.png" alt="WebAIM logo" longdesc="data:text/html,...">
| User agent | Pass/Fail | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| IE 11 | |
No visual indication on image or context menu of long description |
| JAWS w/ IE 11 | |
JAWS indicates long description and instructions, but when activated it treats the data URI as an absolute URL (http://webaim.org/temp/data:text/...) resulting in a 404 error displayed in a new tab. |
| NVDA w/ IE 11 | |
Long desc is indicated (no instructions). Activating (NVDA + D) opens the data URI in a new pop-up window, but IE does not render it. An error message is displayed. |
| WE w/ IE 11 | |
|
| FF | |
The long description is accessible via View Description context menu (not directly keyboard accessible). The description page opens in the same tab. The Image Info context menu shows the unreadable encoded URI data. |
| JAWS w/ FF | |
The long description is indicated with instructions. Activating opens new tab and displays long description appropriately. |
| NVDA w/ FF | |
The long description is indicated. Activating opens a new tab and displays long description appropriately. |
| WE w/ FF | |
|
| Chrome | |
No visual indication of long description on image or context menu. |
| JAWS w/ Chrome | |
JAWS indicates the long description with instructions, but activating (ALT + Enter) does nothing. |
| NVDA w/ Chrome | |
NVDA does not indicate presence of long description. Activating (NVDA + D) indicates "no long description". |
| Mac Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ Mac Safari | |
|
| iPhone Safari | |
|
| VoiceOver w/ iPhone Safari | |
I am an internal fragment longdesc