Our friend Jared Smith at WebAIM has sparked some discussion from his post Alt text and linked images. Towards the end of the post, a question arises: does an image with a caption require an ALT attribute, even if the ALT attribute would contain the same text as the caption? I say yes! Another issue is HTML 5 working group’s proposal to make the alt attribute optional for images. I say no!
Category: expert
In my article Business Reasons for Web Accessibility (posted under Web Axe’s sponsor company, CheckEngine USA) I provide several reasons why an accessible web site is good for business (namely, the bottom line—finances). Points for web accessibility benefiting business include:
- Increases Potential Market Share
- Lighter Code Saves Bandwidth
- No Alternative Formats Needed
- Increases Positive Image
- Avoid Lawsuits
Dennis and Ross speak to the renowned Andrew Kirkpatrick, a leader in accessibility and product development for Adobe.
Download Web Axe Episode 53 (Interview with Andrew Kirkpatrick)
Andrew Kirkpatrick is An Event Apart speaker, technical editor for A List Apart, and he’s co-authored a few books. Topics in the conversation include:
- the development of the MAGpie captioning program
- AIR-Boston and Knowbility
- Captioning in Flash
- books he’s worked on
- his role at Adobe
- his experience web conferences
More Links
- Adobe Accessibility
- Adobe Accessibility Blog
- Timed Text (TT) Authoring Format 1.0 – Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP)
- An Event Apart Speaker–Andrew Kirkpatrick
- Creating Accessible Flash Experiences (eSeminar)
News Links
E-shop accessibility: from theory to reality is an article from Juicy Studio discussing issues and proposed solutions for web accessible e-commerce web sites.
Here’s a thoughtful response from Accessibility expert Joe Dolson in his post Accessible e-Commerce Tips.
The lastest version of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is discussed by Dennis, Ross, Jared Smith and Joe Dolson.
Download Web Axe Episode 50 (Analysis of WCAG 2.0)
News
- W3C is looking for input by June 29th for the latest revision of WCAG 2.0.
- HTML 5 and Accessibility, 456 Berea street
- HTML5 going towards presentation and not semantics?
Announcements
- Refresh Detroit, June 20th – Catherine Hayes Inner Circle Media, Ruby on Rails
- Refresh San Fran? Refresh San Jose? Who’ll start one?
Questions/Topics Include
- Do you feel that (good) progress is being made after the concerns voiced about a year ago?
- Do you feel that “Success Criteria” make more sense than the previous “Priority levels/Checkpoints”?
- There is still a “loophole” for an alternative accessible page. Is this acceptable?
- Valid code is still not a requirement (politically motivated?). Should it be?
- Do you think that the WCAG 2 is too broad and vague?
- Is the quick reference an acceptable method for developers to understand WCAG2 if the actual documents are to complex?
WCAG 2.0 Links
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
- Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents
- WCAG 2.0 Quick Reference
- Comparison of WCAG 1.0 checkpoints to WCAG 2.0
- WCAG 2.0: Woeful to Wonderful in One Easy Draft? by Jack Pickard
- A review of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0