Re: Alt text for images with callouts

Subject: Re: Alt text for images with callouts
From: "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: "Char James-Tanny" <charjtf -at- gmail -dot- com>, "dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net" <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net>, "Syed Zaeem Hosain" <Syed -dot- Hosain -at- aeris -dot- net>
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2020 21:23:31 -0500

On Thu, 10 Dec 2020 20:36:30 -0500, Syed Zaeem Hosain <Syed -dot- Hosain -at- aeris -dot- net> wrote:

(I am assuming here that this text is intended to "show" when you hover a mouse or pointer on the actual image, right?)

No, that is not correct. Instead the alt text is displayed in some manner provided by the particular browser in use. The clearest illustration is with the text-based "lynx" browser, which does not show pictures at all. Instead it attempts to show the alt text in the spot where the picture would be in our "normal" view. The usual assumption is that blind or partially-sighted persons are using a text browser that renders the text on a Braille display or through a text-to-voice reading system.

Here is some very good info on the Braille display: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display

Here is the lynx browser: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)

The alt text is often necessarily insufficient if rich or complicated material is shown in the picture. For such a situation it might possibly be necessary for a blind person to seek additional explanation. There could even be an additional document that covers an approach to the material in some way that is more suited to a non-seeing audience.

Using an empty alt text entry for an illustration does two things. (1) It fills the usual requirement that an alt text entry be provided, and (2) it shows that the entry was not avoided, but instead was deliberately provided with no content.

The difficulty of seeing the illustrations extends on occasion to sighted persons. At a technical talk I attended, one speaker presented a dreadful slide full of dense text. He said, "As you can see on this slide, or rather, as you might see if you could read it, ..."
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Alt text for images with callouts: From: dick
Re: Alt text for images with callouts: From: Char James-Tanny
Re: Alt text for images with callouts: From: dick
Re: Alt text for images with callouts: From: Peter Neilson
RE: Alt text for images with callouts: From: Syed Zaeem Hosain

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