[html4all] Omitting alt Attribute for Critical Content Wiki page

[Gez Lemon]

Hi Steve,

On 24/10/2007, Steven Faulkner <faulkner.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
> I do think there are situations where the user will not provide
> (although they should) alt texts. the example cited in the HTML 5 spec
> is that of bulk uploads to photosites. What is to be done in this
> case?

I don't think there is a markup solution to this problem. The best
that could be determined would be that the alt text is intentionally
not provided, so it becomes the user agent's responsibility to use
repair techniques to provide the alternate. Even if image recognition
comes along in leaps and bounds, it's unlikely that the important
parts of the image will be relayed concisely to the user. Bulk uploads
should prompt for alternate text - it should be a requirement.
Personally, I don't think it's ever excusable to load inaccessible
content to the web, and we don't need a markup language to excuse
missing accessibility content under certain circumstances, as it will
just be abused.

Cheers,

Gez


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