I like the blogger site, it looks good and it's pretty easy to use. But still, with a few tweaks here and then the accessibility of the blogs created would be much better to everyone's benefit.
One thing that's missing are easy-to-add alt tags from the image upload dialogue box:
>>>An alt tag is a description of the image or its purpose. This way, users of screen readers or those with the images disabled know the function of or the information portrayed by the image.According to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), all authoring tools, including blogging websites such as this one for example, should make it easy for the author to create accessible content, this includes prompting for alternative information:
ATAG 1. Checkpoint 3.1
Prompt the author to provide equivalent alternative information (e.g., captions, auditory descriptions, and collated text transcripts for video).ATAG 2.0 (Draft)
Support the production of accessible content
B.2.1 Prompt and assist the author to create content that conforms to WCAG. [Relative Priority]
Currently we have to edit the HTML by hand.
>>>Click on the edit HTML tab and look for: alt=""
Add your image description between the "", e.g. alt="type short image description here"
Of course, if you are not familiar with accessibility issues, you are unlikely to be motivated enough to take that step, - assuming you have the knowledge required to do so.
Please make it easy for bloggers to create accessible content with an extra "alt tag" field and "What is this?" link in the dialogue box. A couple of examples, e.g. "Blogger logo", "Me blowing out the candles on my ninth birthday" and problem solved.
Blogger, Tumblr, all you other sites out there, please listen, the responsibility is yours!
Read more:
A quick and dirty introduction to accessibility
Introduction to Accessibility from the W3C
Report by Jakob Nielsen: Beyond Alt tags (PDF)
No comments:
Post a Comment