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Bug 9080 - Confusing alt text in the second The Lady of Shalott example
Summary: Confusing alt text in the second The Lady of Shalott example
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: HTML WG
Classification: Unclassified
Component: pre-LC1 alt techniques (editor: Steven Faulkner) (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: PC All
: P2 normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: steve faulkner
QA Contact: HTML WG Bugzilla archive list
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-02-19 01:22 UTC by Ian 'Hixie' Hickson
Modified: 2010-10-05 12:53 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:


Attachments

Description Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-02-19 01:22:00 UTC
The second "The Lady of Shalott" example would read as follows to a non-graphical user:

   *** The Lady of Shalott ***

   ** A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson **

   A painting inspired by the poem.

   On either side the river lie
   Long fields of barley and of rye,
   ...

This would make it look like the first line of the poem was "A painting inspired by the poem" which is quite confusing.
Comment 1 steve faulkner 2010-02-24 11:38:49 UTC
(In reply to comment #0)
> The second "The Lady of Shalott" example would read as follows to a
> non-graphical user:
>    *** The Lady of Shalott ***
>    ** A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson **
>    A painting inspired by the poem.
>    On either side the river lie
>    Long fields of barley and of rye,
>    ...
> This would make it look like the first line of the poem was "A painting
> inspired by the poem" which is quite confusing.

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: rejected
Change Description: no change

Rationale: 

your statement is incorrect:
"The second "The Lady of Shalott" example would read as follows to a
non-graphical user:"

The image in this case is within a link so non praphical users agents should uniformly indicate the presenece of the link and the alt text becomes the link content.
Comment 2 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-03-28 22:28:22 UTC
I had missed the link. The link makes the entire example very poor form, as there is no indication to the non-AT user that the image is a link — semantically, it is marked up as a figure, in fact. If the goal is to link to something, best practices should make it clear what is being linked.

Furthermore, hiding non-obvious information such as the reason that the image is applicable (that is has anything to do with the poem, for instance) in alternative text that is not visible to visual UAs actually leads to a poor accessibility experience for users without ATs! We should make sure pages are accessible to all.

This example should be changed to be accessible to all.
Comment 3 steve faulkner 2010-03-29 10:01:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #2)
> I had missed the link. The link makes the entire example very poor form, as
> there is no indication to the non-AT user that the image is a link —
> semantically, it is marked up as a figure, in fact. If the goal is to link to
> something, best practices should make it clear what is being linked.
> Furthermore, hiding non-obvious information such as the reason that the image
> is applicable (that is has anything to do with the poem, for instance) in
> alternative text that is not visible to visual UAs actually leads to a poor
> accessibility experience for users without ATs! We should make sure pages are
> accessible to all.
> This example should be changed to be accessible to all.

from the example text:
"Note a title has been included on the link for sighted mouse users, the title provides information about the link target."

so the use of the title is not enough in this case?
Comment 4 Ian 'Hixie' Hickson 2010-03-29 19:41:40 UTC
IMHO no, the UI in his case is pretty poor for users of graphical UAs.

I don't really think this is a good way to present the information. Something like:

   <aside>
     <p><cite>The Lady of Shallot</cite> has inspired other art, for example the following painting:</p>
     <figure>
       <img src="shalott.jpeg" alt="A painting of a young women with long hair sitting in a wooden boat. She is wearing a flowing white dress. A large piece of intricately patterned fabric is draped over the side. In her right hand she holds the chain mooring the boat. Her expression is mournful. She stares at a crucifix lying in front of her, besides which are three candles, one lit.">
     </figure>
     <p><a href="http://bit.ly/5HJvVZ">More information about this painting...</a></p>
   </aside>

...would IMHO be significantly more comprehensible for the purpose you are describing, for all users.
Comment 5 steve faulkner 2010-03-30 08:45:13 UTC
(In reply to comment #4)
> IMHO no, the UI in his case is pretty poor for users of graphical UAs.
> I don't really think this is a good way to present the information. Something
> like:
>    <aside>
>      <p><cite>The Lady of Shallot</cite> has inspired other art, for example
> the following painting:</p>
>      <figure>
>        <img src="shalott.jpeg" alt="A painting of a young women with long hair
> sitting in a wooden boat. She is wearing a flowing white dress. A large piece
> of intricately patterned fabric is draped over the side. In her right hand she
> holds the chain mooring the boat. Her expression is mournful. She stares at a
> crucifix lying in front of her, besides which are three candles, one lit.">
>      </figure>
>      <p><a href="http://bit.ly/5HJvVZ">More information about this
> painting...</a></p>
>    </aside>
> ...would IMHO be significantly more comprehensible for the purpose you are
> describing, for all users.

(In reply to comment #4)
> IMHO no, the UI in his case is pretty poor for users of graphical UAs.
> I don't really think this is a good way to present the information. Something
> like:
>    <aside>
>      <p><cite>The Lady of Shallot</cite> has inspired other art, for example
> the following painting:</p>
>      <figure>
>        <img src="shalott.jpeg" alt="A painting of a young women with long hair
> sitting in a wooden boat. She is wearing a flowing white dress. A large piece
> of intricately patterned fabric is draped over the side. In her right hand she
> holds the chain mooring the boat. Her expression is mournful. She stares at a
> crucifix lying in front of her, besides which are three candles, one lit.">
>      </figure>
>      <p><a href="http://bit.ly/5HJvVZ">More information about this
> painting...</a></p>
>    </aside>
> ...would IMHO be significantly more comprehensible for the purpose you are
> describing, for all users.


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: partially accepted
Change Description: modified link/title text in example to "Information about this painting inspired by the poem." and added another example that provides a visible ttext link.

<hgroup><h1>The Lady of Shalott</h1>
<h2>A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson</h2></hgroup>
<figure><a href="http://bit.ly/5HJvVZ">
<img src="shalott.jpeg" alt=""><p>Information about this painting inspired by the poem.</p></a></figure>
<!-- Full Recitation of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Poem.  -->

Rationale: 
The purpose of the examples are to illustrate a variety of methods for providing text alternatives within given visual style and formatting constraints. As you can see from examples more towards the start of the document I have provided information about the advantages and disadvantages of a particular method, I am continuing to edit the document and will include such information on any examples for which it is appropriate.

I do not consider your example to be useful as the link is not expliclty associated with the image of the painting and it changes the context of the use of the image.