ISSUE-31

missing-alt

What to do when a reasonable text equivalent is unknown/unavailable?

State:
OPEN
Product:
HTML 5 spec
Raised by:
Laura Carlson
Opened on:
2008-02-07
Description:
Raised on behalf of Laura Carlson & the WAI PF WG, 7 Feb 2008
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Feb/0103.html

The img element section allows instances where the <img> element may have no text alternative, not just a null alt attribute for eye candy, but no text alternative for content. The issue involves ensuring images have accessible alternatives and asks what should be done when a reasonable text equivalent is unknown/unavailable.

It is unclear what the net accessibility implications of this would be. It has also been suggested that the conformance requirements here should follow WCAG.

Issue is detailed at:
Omitting Text Alternatives on <img>
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/IssueAltAttribute

Re: Request for PFWG WAI review of Omitting alt Attribute for Critical Content
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Feb/0082.html
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Feb/0088.html

Action 54: First Draft Deliverable (authoring guidelines and examples)
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/Action54AltAttribute
Action 54 First Draft Comments:
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/Action54AltAttributeDiscussion 
Action 54 Second draft
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/Action54AltAttributeSecondDraft
Action 54 Third Draft:
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/Action54AltAttributeThirdDraft

WAI CG Consensus Resolutions on Text alternatives in HTML 5
http://www.w3.org/2009/06/Text-Alternatives-in-HTML5

ACTION-131 First Draft Deliverable (Spec text):
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/img.html

Start of "Best practice techniques: Providing text alternatives for images" (Based on ACTION 54)
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/textalternatives.html

Related Bugs:
6494: Make the requiredness about alt more obvious.
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=6494
7144: I am not sure if we are ditching ALT in favour of legend. You don't make this clear.
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=7144
8171: Implement the text alternatives proposal from WAI
http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=8171

HTML5-SPEC-SECTIONS [alt]
Related Actions Items:
Related emails:
  1. Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-09-10 - Accessibility TF, Testing TF, etc (from Paul.Cotton@microsoft.com on 2009-09-09)
  2. FW: Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-09-10 - Accessibility TF, Testing TF, etc (from Paul.Cotton@microsoft.com on 2009-09-09)
  3. minutes for 2009-09-03 telcon (from mike@w3.org on 2009-09-05)
  4. Re: Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-08-20 - Accessibility TF, HTML5 Test Suite, etc (from john@jkemp.net on 2009-09-02)
  5. Re: Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-08-20 - Accessibility TF, HTML5 Test Suite, etc (from mjs@apple.com on 2009-09-02)
  6. Re: Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-08-20 - Accessibility TF, HTML5 Test Suite, etc (from julian.reschke@gmx.de on 2009-09-02)
  7. Agenda for HTML WG telcon 2009-08-20 - Accessibility TF, HTML5 Test Suite, etc (from mjs@apple.com on 2009-09-01)
  8. State of HTML WG Unresolved Issues (from mjs@apple.com on 2009-08-20)
  9. Re: feedback requested on WAI CG Consensus Resolutions on Text alternatives in HTML 5 document (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-08-17)
  10. Re: feedback requested on WAI CG Consensus Resolutions on Text alternatives in HTML 5 document (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-08-16)
  11. Re: Consolidated issues that may qualify as 'controversial' (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-08-12)
  12. Re: Consolidated issues that may qualify as 'controversial' (from shelleyp@burningbird.net on 2009-08-12)
  13. Consolidated issues that may qualify as 'controversial' (from mjs@apple.com on 2009-08-12)
  14. minutes HTML weekly 9 July for review (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-07-09)
  15. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-06-15)
  16. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-06-01)
  17. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-05-11)
  18. minutes: HTML WG telecon 2009-05-07 [draft] (from julian.reschke@gmx.de on 2009-05-07)
  19. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-04-27)
  20. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-03-31)
  21. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-03-24)
  22. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-03-16)
  23. {agenda} HTML WG telcon 2009-03-12 (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-03-11)
  24. {agenda} HTML WG telcon 2009-03-12 (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-03-11)
  25. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-03-09)
  26. Re: Example canvas element use - accessibility concerns (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-02-24)
  27. RE: Example canvas element use - accessibility concerns (from foliot@wats.ca on 2009-02-24)
  28. Re: Example canvas element use - accessibility concerns (from rubys@intertwingly.net on 2009-02-24)
  29. Re: Input on the agenda (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-02-23)
  30. Input on the agenda (from ian@hixie.ch on 2009-02-23)
  31. minutes: HTML WG telecon 2009-02-19 [draft] (from julian.reschke@gmx.de on 2009-02-19)
  32. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from joshue.oconnor@cfit.ie on 2009-02-18)
  33. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-02-18)
  34. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from faulkner.steve@gmail.com on 2009-02-12)
  35. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from chaals@opera.com on 2009-02-12)
  36. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from jcraig@apple.com on 2009-02-11)
  37. Re: Need differentiator between 'no alt text provided' and 'no alt text necessary' (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-02-11)
  38. [Minutes] HTML Weekly Teleconference 05 February 2009 (from karl+w3c@la-grange.net on 2009-02-05)
  39. minutes: HTML WG weekly telcon 22 Jan 2009 (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-01-23)
  40. minutes: HTML Weekly Teleconference 15 Jan 2009 (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-01-16)
  41. minutes: HTML Weekly Teleconference 08 Jan 2009 (from connolly@w3.org on 2009-01-16)
  42. Action 90 & 92: Ask Matt May if he can help represent WAI WGs in the HTML WG - due 2009-01-15 - open (from masinter@adobe.com on 2009-01-14)
  43. HTML WG telcon 2008-08-28 (from Chris.Wilson@microsoft.com on 2008-08-26)
  44. Re: requiring the alt attribute (from rob@robburns.com on 2008-08-24)
  45. requiring the alt attribute [was Re: Another HTML5 alt conformance question for clarification] (from rob@robburns.com on 2008-08-24)
  46. Re: toward a schedule of HTML WG issues (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-08-22)
  47. Re: toward a schedule of HTML WG issues (from julian.reschke@gmx.de on 2008-08-22)
  48. toward a schedule of HTML WG issues (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-08-21)
  49. Re: ISSUE-58 (curly alt): Use of 'curly brackets' to identify a graphical image by its use or type by inserting a generic identifier / descriptor in curly braces as the @alt value for an IMG, [HTML 5 spec] (from joshue.oconnor@cfit.ie on 2008-08-13)
  50. Re: ISSUE-58 (curly alt): Use of 'curly brackets' to identify a graphical image by its use or type by inserting a generic identifier / descriptor in curly braces as the @alt value for an IMG, [HTML 5 spec] (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-08-13)
  51. {minutes} HTML WG issue-tracking telcon 2008-06-19 (from mike@w3.org on 2008-06-25)
  52. {minutes} HTML WG issue-tracking telcon 2008-06-05 (from mike@w3.org on 2008-06-06)
  53. Re: alt - data and reason Re: One more thought... (from mjs@apple.com on 2008-05-19)
  54. Re: alt - data and reason Re: One more thought... (from chaals@opera.com on 2008-05-19)
  55. RE: alt - data and reason Re: One more thought... (from love26@gorge.net on 2008-05-19)
  56. alt - data and reason Re: One more thought... (from chaals@opera.com on 2008-05-19)
  57. Re: Use-case for where alt text would be truly unavailable (from chaals@opera.com on 2008-04-25)
  58. Re: Use-case for where alt text would be truly unavailable (from faulkner.steve@gmail.com on 2008-04-18)
  59. minutes HTML WG weekly 17 Apr (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-04-17)
  60. Is this an accurate reflection of where we stand today? (was RE: New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft contradicts WCAG 1 & WCAG 2 (draft)) (from foliot@wats.ca on 2008-04-16)
  61. Re: Use-case for where alt text would be truly unavailable (from raman@google.com on 2008-04-16)
  62. Re: Use-case for where alt text would be truly unavailable (from chaals@opera.com on 2008-04-16)
  63. Re: New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft contradicts WCAG 1 & WCAG 2 (draft) (from Alfred.S.Gilman@ieee.org on 2008-04-14)
  64. Re: New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft contradicts WCAG 1 & WCAG 2 (draft) (from faulkner.steve@gmail.com on 2008-04-11)
  65. Re: New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft contradicts WCAG 1 & WCAG 2 (draft) (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-04-11)
  66. Re: omitting alt: closing an open issue with a bound action item in progress (from faulkner.steve@gmail.com on 2008-04-11)
  67. Re: omitting alt: closing an open issue with a bound action item in progress (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-04-11)
  68. Re: [html4all] New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft contradicts WCAG 1 & WCAG 2 (draft) (from chaals@opera.com on 2008-04-11)
  69. Re: several messages relating to the alt='' attribute (from lhs@malform.no on 2008-04-11)
  70. omitting alt: closing an open issue with a bound action item in progress (from laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com on 2008-04-10)
  71. Re: several messages relating to the alt='' attribute (from ian@hixie.ch on 2008-04-10)
  72. minutes HTML WG weekly 21 Feb (from connolly@w3.org on 2008-03-09)
  73. ISSUE-31 (missing-alt): Should img without alt ever be conforming [HTML 5 spec] (from sysbot+tracker@w3.org on 2008-02-07)

Related notes:

2008-04-10 22:11:35: I've examined this issue and all related materials, and couldn't find a way to deal with mass-upload image hosting sites and Rorschach inkblot tests that didn't involve not including the alt='' attribute. Since alt='' is still required in all other cases, this shouldn't, as far as I can tell, affect accessibility of other pages.

Please re-open if you have a reason to address the above issues in some other way. [Ian Hickson]

2008-04-11 10:12:39: Reopened - there is an ongoing action item related to this, and clearly no consensus yet. [Charles McCathieNevile]

2008-04-11 11:57:40: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0225.html is the start of the thread (called new issue, but it isn't) about HTML and WCAG drafts. [Charles McCathieNevile]

2008-04-11 19:42:17: (Moving to None product to indicate that the issue now is about coordination with another working group rather than about specific issues with the spec itself. I will move it back once coordination issues are resolved.) [Ian Hickson]

2008-04-16 08:34:10: Some more thread roots - this has generated a *lot* of discussion...

http://www.w3.org/mid/fb6fbf560804141048u16a79483ic355ef11366166dc@mail.gmail.com - "An attempted summary" by Jim Jewett

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0295.html - "Re: New issue: IMG section of HTML5 draft ..." (thread broken) from Katie Haritos-Shea

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0372.html - same thread broke again from Henri Sivonen

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0334.html - "point of clarification in alt debates" - Steven Faulkner

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0400.html - "there are markup options" from Al Gilman

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0408.html - "request for review of alt and alt value..." from Laura Carlson

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Apr/0461.html = "Use case for where alt would be truly unavailable" from Andrew Sidwell

[Charles McCathieNevile]

2008-04-25 04:30:35: This is pretty clearly a question of what the spec requires. [Charles McCathieNevile]

2008-08-14 16:35:43: Title changed per resolution on August 14th, 2008 telecon. [Shawn Medero]

2008-08-14 16:58:23: The HTML 5 editor's draft has changed significantly since ISSUE-31 was opened:

http://www.w3.org/html/wg/html5/#alt

One of those changes ("curly braces" proposal) resulted in ISSUE-58 being opened to address concerns that the "curly braces" proposal should NOT compromise the author's ability to provide a textual equivalent. The August 14th, 2008 telecon determined that ISSUE-58 was a duplicate of ISSUE-31 and the resolution was to change the title of ISSUE-31 to more accurately state the HTML working group's (and other WGs) concerns around HTML 5's @alt language.

One of the major discussion points in ISSUE-58 was that using @role for machine-parseable values would be a better approach than the one set forth in the "curly braces" proposal. Laura Carlson noted in the telcon that the @role proposal is detailed on the HTML WG wiki:
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/IssueAltAttribute#head-27468e7ee9afd1f9e07186c8d74f0b0168b3975a [Shawn Medero]

2008-08-25 15:46:07: nice summary:

Re: some reflections on @alt usage (and summary of research so far)
Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>
Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:45:24 +0000 (UTC)
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Aug/0602.html [Dan Connolly]

2008-08-26 21:21:04: Ian's summary of the current state (Aug 26th, 2008) the @alt draft text and how he came to his findings:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2008Aug/0759.html [Shawn Medero]

2009-01-22 17:36:27: raised pending proposal [Dan Connolly]

2009-02-11 22:59:14: Marking this OPEN as Ian's proposal of 6 Feb 2009 20:15:34 +0000 seems to have
a critical mass of support
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html/2009Feb/0184.html
[Dan Connolly]

2009-09-10 15:51:44: Steve Faulkner has started of redraft of sub sections '4.8.1 The figure element' and '4.8.2 The img element':
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/img.html

Start of "Best practice techniques: Providing text alternatives for images"
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/misc/HTML5/textalternatives.html

Based on Action 54: First Draft Deliverable
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/Action54AltAttribute [Laura Carlson]

Display change log.

Paul Cotton <Paul.Cotton@microsoft.com>, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>, Sam Ruby <rubys@intertwingly.net>, Chairs, Dan Connolly <connolly@w3.org>, Michael(tm) Smith <mike@w3.org>, Staff Contacts
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