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Accessibility

Government regulation and web best practice (as promulgated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)) have led to requirements for better access for the visually and motor impaired. For the web, the W3C has published the WCAG 2.0: Web Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). These guidelines range from the recommendation that web pages be well formed, through techniques for pausing and linking, to specifics on web page design.
To better support accessibility for the visually impaired, the Balisage Conference Paper Tag Set has two elements and an attribute for storing information needed to implement WCAG-accessible display. While these elements’ and attribute’s use is not mandated, the intent of this Tag Set is to actively promote WCAG techniques of best accessibility practice.
Accessiblity Descriptions for Graphic Images
This Tag Set provides two enabling elements available within <inlinemediaobject> and <mediaobject> element to promote accessibility. Both graphic elements may contain:
  • an <alt> element, to hold a brief description of the graphic for pronouncing software; and
  • a <textobject> element, to hold a full description of the graphic.
The inclusion of these elements enables WCAG 2.0: Techniques and Failures for Web Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (December 2008) #G95: “Providing short text alternatives that provide a brief description of non-text content”.
Using <alt> and <textobject>
Best practice reserves the <alt> and <textobject> elements for accessibility uses such as pronouncing screen readers. These elements should not be used as a replacement for <caption>, which is a visual element that is typically displayed alongside a figure, equation, etc.
Table Descriptions
The <table> element includes a @summary attribute to make XHTML tables more accessible by providing a description of a table’s contents. This is a non-visual attribute used by systems such as pronouncing screen readers to make the table contents more accessible to people or systems that cannot read/see/display the table.
As with <alt> and <textobject> for graphic images, the @summary attribute should not be considered a replacement for <caption>, whose contents typically display with a table.