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Alt Text & Universal Design
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Discussion of Week 2 Image Descriptions
I have a rant to share. WebAIM states:
"Wouldn't it make more sense to simply leave the alt attribute off entirely? This is a good question, but the answer is that missing alt text is worse than null alt text because some screen readers read the file name of the image, which can be confusing to listen to."
I think the few screen readers that try to read missing alt text should change what they do rather than trying to train millions of web creators to do a specific behavior just for certain screen readers! Earlier in this course it was stated that we shouldn't have to worry about what different types of screen readers do, but isn't that exactly what is going on here? It is hard enough getting people to provide relevant Al Text without them having to consider this extra step.
Marsha,
Thank for sharing your rant. A colleague of mine helped put things into perspective...
The fact is that W3C’s HTML 4 requires the alt attribute on the image element:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/objects.html#adef-alt
so does HTML5/WHAT WG version:
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/embedded-con...
and so does HTML5/W3C version:
http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#alt .
So WebAIM, NCAM and others are most definitely *not* telling developers to accommodate screen readers; we’re merely asking that they follow the rules of HTML because screen readers are, most of the time, written to follow the rules of the spec. therefore, a screen reader that reads an image path because a developer neglected to include the alt attribute is not behaving poorly— it’s only doing what it’s supposed to do.
On the Universal Design front, it's good to remember that alt benefits sighted users: anyone who turns off image display on a handheld device (or any web browser, desktop or mobile) in order to make web pages load faster will see the alt text on the screen. don’t want images? read alt text.
That's we recommend this simple rule: use alt on every image, or use null alt on decorative/unimportant images.
Bryna,
I am aware that alt text is required in the standards and that it makes sense to do it, except perhaps for decorative images. However, I don't think the screen readers should behave differently when they encounter no alt text. The vast majority (IMHO) of web developers/designs/publishers either know nothing about the standards or don't care about them, at least for smaller sites. I actually had a client, who is a doctor, tell me they absolutely don't care and won't pay for making the site accessible because that's for such a minority. It seems impractical to expect that all web sites will follow the standards. I think it would make sense that the default behavior of the screen readers is to do nothing rather than do something that annoys people. Or maybe there is a way that the user can decide how they want that situation handled?
Marsha,
I hear your frustration. While I can't speak for screen-reader developers, I would think that they find it more reasonable to develop screen readers to work with existing standards as opposed to ignoring them.
In any case, including null alts isn't difficult or overly time consuming. And while we're learning that creating alt text is a skill to be learned, in most cases adding alt text is also relatively quick and easy.
And remember, web pages that are properly developed for accessibility (with headers, alt text, formatted data tables, etc,) work much better for people viewing them on a wide variety of devices, not just with screen readers.
Indeed, you may find clients who, instead of requesting you to NOT make web sites accessible, will pay you more to make them accessible.
bg
Sorry for piping in late... I don't think it's important how screen readers handle missing alt texts, as long as, its customizable; let the user decide what is said (or skipped).
On the other hand, I don't think it's a good idea for screen readers to treat missing alt text the same way it treats empty alt texts. For instance, if there are no alt texts then its fair to assume the developer did not build the site with accessibility in mind. On the other hand, if alt texts exist, you can assume it was built for accessibility esp. if some contain text and others are empty (images that don't convey content). I would imagine that could help the user decide how to proceed in navigating a page.
Hi Ed,
I think we're all finding value in the screen reader exercise - namely, that unless websites are built with accessibility in mind, it's very difficult to navigate and understand them.
While screen readers may have their flaws, they are the tool that people who are blind and have low vision use to access digital content. I hope one of the things the we get out of this course, is that there are relatively easy and low-cost ways to make websites accessible and that doing this has value.
Here are the alt text I came up with:
The apple:
#1: This apple is mostly round. It feels smooth and probably would taste good.
#2: This red apple is suitable for eating or for cooking.
The birdman:
#1: A smiling man with a big bird on his head and one on each shoulder.
#2: A man laughing with birds perched on his shoulders and head.
The birds:
#1: Many birds flying together in a group.
#2: A swarm of birds so numerous they cannot be counted.
The Jack O' Lanterns:
#1: Four pumpkins with faces carved in them might be scary.
#2: Four Jack O' Lanterns decorate a doorstep for Halloween.
The rocket:
#1: A rocket is a large object shaped like a crayon. A fiery blast makes it go into space.
#2: A rocket at lift-off.
The biggest challenge I had was that there was no context. For instance, are we teaching the child what these things are or merely describing? I wasn't sure if the child would understand the concept of "decoration" for the Jack O' Lanterns. With the adult texts, I was more likely to assume that they knew certain words already so I didn't need to instruct. However, what does a blind person think of for a swarm of birds? I'm not sure at all. If there was context, I might be more likely to state why they are all flying at once rather than stating that they are doing so.
One of the websites I manage deals with the topic of invasive plants. I keep wondering what a blind person will get out of a photo of a plant. They will never be able to identify them (I can't either!) so what would be the point of describing the plant? I can put the Latin name in the alt text and the more scientific might be able to discern something about the plant from that (but I can't!). Do I simply say something like "photo of garlic mustard" or do I use the empty text?
Marsha - thank you for sharing your descriptions and for your excellent observations and questions. You are of course correct in saying that context is everything.
As for your invasive plant website, consider the questions from last week: Why is the image there?
Who is the intended audience? If there is no description what will the reader miss? What information is included in the surrounding text?
1. I'm guessing that the plants are fully described in the surrounding text and so the only alt necessary is a alt="mustard plant", for example.
2. However, if the plant is not described in the text, then the image is probably there to provide the visual information. In this case, you should provide a description of the plant and not just the name.
Before providing alternative text, it might be helpful to look at the website with the images turned off. That may give you a good idea of what the alt text should provide.
Adults: an apple, man holding 3 eagles on his head and sholders, a huge number of birds flying over a forest, 4 lightened Jack-o-lanterns, a space rocket lifting off, picasso's painting called The scream (this would probably require a longdesc)
Children: an apple, 3 eagles resting on a man's shoulders and head, lots and lots of birds flying together over a forest, 4 Halloween pumpkins with lighs inside, space rocket flying towards the sky, a famous painting of a man screaming.
Again, as Marsha said, I think it also depends on the content surrounding the images - and I also think that the painting might need a longdesc for a better description. It also depends on who is describing the images and his/her relationship with the person writing the content - it can be the same person or one copywriter and the programmer inserting the images in a CMS - in this case the programmer will probably make some mistakes.
Lucica,
Thank you for sharing your descriptions with the group.
As you said, there might be mistakes and yours had one - the artist of "The Scream" was Edvard Munch, not Picasso. Sorry to point that out but it perfectly illustrates your point. :-)
Continuing on your comments, the common practice should be for the website author to provide the alt text and not the website developer/programmer (assuming they are different people.)
One of the things that I hope people take away from this course is that accessibility (and especially image description) shouldn't be a last minute check list but integrated from the start to created a universally designed site.
[Image]
(Child version)
(Adult version)
Apple
Rounded, glossy, with a helve in its center.
Rounded, handy and eatable.
Birdman
Man with birds sitting on his left and right arm as well as on his head.
A middle-aged man, smiling while birds of prey sit on his arms and head.
Birds
A lot of birds flying close to each other in a huge flock.
A flock of birds flying close to the ground above some trees like a cloud.
Jackolanters
Pale warm heads wearing hats with open mouths showing their teeth.
Four pumpkins of differnt sizes with cut in faces, wearing hats and a candle inside.
Rocket
White pen-like rocket pacing vertically into the sky.
Russian rocket shortly after lift-off.
The scream
Old colourful painting of a person on a pier at the lake.
Painting by Edvard Munch, year 1893, oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard.
What I tried to do here is give further information to the adults while concentrating on the basics for children, making it funny when possible.
Dennis,
Thanks for posting your descriptions. Like all of the others, these are very good. Depending on the context of the images I would make a suggestion to add this or subtract that but over all each of you did a good job of keeping the description short while recognizing when even a seemingly simple image, might require a few extra words of explanation.
bg
Apple:
"an apple, a round hard red fruit with a center that contains seeds"
"A fresh apple on its side"
Birdman:
"A smiling man with three large birds, one on each arm and one on his head"
"A middle aged man..."
Birds
"A large group of birds taking flight from a group of trees"
Jackolanters
"Four pumpkins, round orange melons, with faces carved in their hard outer shells"
"Four pumpkins with carved faces lit up by a candle; two are wearing hats"
Rocket
"A rocket ship, a long skinny vehicle, travelling upward into space"
"A rocket ship taking off into space".
Scream
"A famous painting of a man with his hands on his cheeks under a bright sky"
"A famous painting called the scream which pictures a man on a pier holding his cheeks under a bright orange sky"
I'm not sure if my descriptions for the 6 year old were too descriptive. I took the approach that they might not know what an apple or pumpkin is. As far as the adult, I figured they should know what they are and added more details about how they were presented.
This was an interesting exercise. I can definitely see the value in testing your alt texts with visually impaired people esp. if they are not familiar with your site. What can you do if you don't know any visually impaired people?
Hi Ed. Thanks for sharing your descriptions.
In answer to your question: "What can you do if you don't know any visually impaired people?" I suggest that you try describing your website to a friend or colleague over the phone. Include the text and the images. You'll need to quickly put the images in context and decide what is important about them. So, for example, if you read your description of "The Scream" to your friend over the phone (assuming he/she is not familiar with the painting) they might ask why the man is holding his cheeks. In this case, it's probably important to add that the man's mouth is wide open as if he's screaming. In other words, his hands enhance the image but they are not the point of it.
You and the others who contributed understood very well that the adult description can assume more familiarity with the visual world and common images while description for children requires less detail but more explanation.
bg
To add a bit on the question of getting feedback, while we do have some visually-impaired people on staff, they get really tired of being the guinea pigs and it takes away from their regular work. I have heard (but not tried) that various organizations for the blind and visually impaired are happy to provide volunteer reviewers. I have not had the luxury of the time that might take so far, but it is on my list ...
Marsha,
Is it possible for your visually impaired colleagues to add "accessibility reviewer" to their job descriptions and make it part of their job.
Just as any copy or image that appears on a professional website is reviewed and edited, the accessibility of a site should be reviewed by someone other than the programmer.
bg
I think that is unlikely. As you might have heard, the State of Wisconsin is in a bit of flux right now. We are very short staffed because they haven't been filling vacant positions for awhile, so everyone is up to their eyeballs already. It would be huge to ask one person to review all accessibility for the entire department, and still get their current work done. The web coordinator/programmer is usually the one reviewing. We do have content providers, but so far they are just concerned with what they see. We are going to try to change that but it will take awhile.
Marsha, why not ask help from the developer community + A11Y community?