W3C

- DRAFT -

WAI discussion on alt in HTML
04 Feb 2009

See also: IRC log

Attendees

Present
+1.617.324.aaaa, Cooper, jeanne, Janina, Gregg_Vanderheiden, Ben_Caldwell, Janina.a, Stevef, Matt_May, JR, Loretta_Guarino_Reid, cyns
Regrets
Joshue_O'Connor, Gez_Lemon, Laura_Carlson
Chair
Janina_Sajka
Scribe
greggvanderheiden

Contents


 

 

<Stevef> zakim [IPcaller] is Stevef

Straw polls testing for consensus

<Ben> scribe: greggvanderheiden

Proposition: @alt is a very important accessibility attribute (it is

supported by all browsers, most authoring tools and enjoys a reasonable

level of author knowledge)

<janina> +1

<jeanne> +1

<Stevef> +1

<JR> +1

<MichaelC> 1+ jeanne, Stevef, Cooper, Gregg_Vanderheiden, Janina.a, Matt_May, JR, Loretta_Guarino_Reid, [Microsoft]

proposal: @alt is a very important accessibility attribute (it is supported by all browsers, most authoring tools and is the most well known accessibility technique among authors).

Unanimouse Agreement

PROP: Having @alt "required" in HTML 4.01 raised public awareness of Web accessibility in general.

Unanimous agreement

PROP: automatic validators can detect the presence/absence of @alt but in general can't certify the correctness of the text string.
... automatic syntax validators can detect the presence/absence of @alt but can't certify the correctness of the text string.

Unanimous Agreement

PROP: We want HTML5 to provide mechanisms for providing text alternatives.

Unanimous Agreement

<Zakim> MichaelC, you wanted to add proposition: WCAG-specific evaluation tools sometimes can validate that an alt value is appropriate, but currently not for all cases and to separate

Resolved: @alt is a very important accessibility attribute (it is supported by all browsers, most authoring tools and is the most well known accessibility technique among authors).

RESOLUTION: @alt is a very important accessibility attribute (it is supported by all browsers, most authoring tools and is the most well known accessibility technique among authors).
... Having @alt "required" in HTML 4.01 raised public awareness of Web accessibility in general.
... automatic syntax validators can detect the presence/absence of @alt but can't certify the correctness of the text string.
... We want HTML5 to provide mechanisms for providing text alternatives.

PROP: We want HTML5 to refrain from requiring any one particular alternative text mechanism be used if there are more than one available mechanisms.

<cyns> what about "If multiple mechanisms are defined, either in HTML5 or extensions to it, we don't want one particular one to be required"

<Zakim> cyns, you wanted to say that we may not want to get into a discussion with HTMLWG about extensions, since extension mechanisms are very controversial there.

<cyns> +1 michael

PROP: We want the content of @alt to be be dictated by WCAG; and we want HTML5 to refrain from including authoring advice regarding use of alternative text mechanisms beyond specifying that it be a string value.
... We want HTML5 to refrain from including authoring advice regarding use of alternative text mechanisms beyond specifying that it be a string value. We want any guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples, to be provided in conjunction with the WCAG.

<Zakim> MichaelC, you wanted to say I don't want to introduce a dependency on the WCAG *WG* and to say the PFWG should be the one to work with HTML WG on application of WCAG

<Zakim> Ben, you wanted to say that HTML5 should be consistent with it's examples throughout and we may not want to ask them to treat this as a special case

PROP: We want HTML5 to refrain from including authoring advice regarding use of alternative text mechanisms beyond specifying that it be a string value. We want any guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples, to be provided in conjunction with the WCAG.
... We want HTML5 to refrain from including authoring advice regarding use of alternative text mechanisms beyond specifying that it be a string value except for guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples, that is provided from the WAI CG.

<Zakim> jeanne, you wanted to propose that PF will provide examples of accessible usage of text alternatives for the HTML WG that in conjunction with WAI.

<Stevef> alternative text fro spec in reference to alt http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/uc/

PROP: We want HTML5 get any guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples, from the WAI CG.

<jeanne> PROP: We want HTML5 to incorporate guidance from WAI in the examples of accessible usage of text alternatives.

PROP: We want all guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples,that is provided in HTML5 be informative and be provided from WAI through PF WG.
... We want all guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples that are provided in HTML5 to be non-normitive and be provided in coordinations with the WAI PF WG.

RESOLUTION: We want all guidance on the the content of @alt, including any examples that are provided in HTML5 to be non-normitive and be provided in coordinations with the WAI PF WG.
... Changing WE WANT to WE AGREE

The resolutions in these minutes are not final resolutions but rather statements of agreement in this working group. the term RESOLUTION was used to make them easier to find by the ZAKIM robot.

two items that were raised but not discussed or resolved were:

We want HTML5 to provide mechanisms for providing short text alternatives.

We want HTML5 to provide mechanisms for providing long text alternatives.

Summary of Action Items

[End of minutes]

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Default Present: +1.617.324.aaaa, Cooper, jeanne, Janina, Gregg_Vanderheiden, Ben_Caldwell, Janina.a, Stevef, Matt_May, JR, Loretta_Guarino_Reid, cyns
Present: +1.617.324.aaaa Cooper jeanne Janina Gregg_Vanderheiden Ben_Caldwell Janina.a Stevef Matt_May JR Loretta_Guarino_Reid cyns
Regrets: Joshue_O'Connor Gez_Lemon Laura_Carlson
Got date from IRC log name: 04 Feb 2009
Guessing minutes URL: http://www.w3.org/2009/02/04-cg-minutes.html
People with action items: 

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