22791 2013-07-24 06:45:10 +0000 Alt text for charts, graphs etc should (when sensible) state what the graphic is 2014-01-16 15:12:36 +0000 1 1 1 Unclassified HTML WG HTML5 spec unspecified PC Linux RESOLVED FIXED a11y, CR P2 minor --- 1 stommepoes faulkner.steve lwatson mark.sadecki+w3c mike public-html-admin public-html-wg-issue-tracking public-html-bugzilla oldest_to_newest 91209 0 stommepoes 2013-07-24 06:45:10 +0000 In http://www.w3.org/html/wg/drafts/html/master/embedded-content-0.html#graphical-representations:-charts,-diagrams,-graphs,-maps,-illustrations there are examples of different kinds of images. The recommended alt text for pie charts clearly state "Pie chart" but none of the other image types state their type. The results of the first and second WebAIM screen reader user studies (2008, 2009) showed a preference among survey takers for alt text to mention what kind of graphic it refers to [1] [2], possibly because the alt text in those particular questions already lack context. That's not to say everyone always wants graphics labeled, but that context of a graphic likely matters to many relying on alt text. This makes sense for context reasons: say students are discussing a page in an online textbook containing 2 bar graphs and 1 pie chart, all showing different aspects of the same subject. With the context of what kind of graphic available, the students can more easily refer to the graphics by type, or search by type. Not only is the information in the graphic conveyed visually, but also what kind of graphic it is as well. As the WebAIM studies caution, this doesn't mean every graphic should be labeled this way, but on a page containing multiple complex graphics I feel it should be recommended. [1] http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey/#images [2] http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey2/#images 98301 1 faulkner.steve 2014-01-12 16:45:53 +0000 EDITOR'S RESPONSE: This is an Editor's Response to your comment. If you are satisfied with this response, please change the state of this bug to CLOSED. If you have additional information and would like the Editor to reconsider, please reopen this bug. If you would like to escalate the issue to the full HTML Working Group, please add the TrackerRequest keyword to this bug, and suggest title and text for the Tracker Issue; or you may create a Tracker Issue yourself, if you are able to do so. For more details, see this document: http://dev.w3.org/html5/decision-policy/decision-policy.html Status: Accepted Change Description: added identification of chart type to alt text Rationale: agreed with Description 98302 2 sideshowbarker+gitzilla 2014-01-12 16:47:17 +0000 Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/608ddca3b82e7d911ad1fa1e3105bbab84d883fb identified chart types in alt text examples refer to Bug 22791 98621 3 sideshowbarker+gitzilla 2014-01-16 15:12:36 +0000 Commit pushed to CR at https://github.com/w3c/html https://github.com/w3c/html/commit/608ddca3b82e7d911ad1fa1e3105bbab84d883fb identified chart types in alt text examples