[uf-discuss] making img machine-readable

[Frances Berriman]

On 12/07/07, Andy Mabbett <andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
> On Thu, July 12, 2007 10:37, Frances Berriman wrote:
> > On 12/07/07, David Thompson <microformats at fatbusinessman.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Guillaume Lebleu wrote:
>
> >>> What would be the suggested best practice to make this human-readable
> >>>  content machine-readable as well?
> >>
> >> Ok, maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't the 'alt' attribute
> >> precisely what you're looking for?
> >
> > I'm inclined to agree with this for in page images.  @alt should carry
> > all the descriptive information needed for the machine (or other
> > usergroups) needed.
>
> That rather depends on what you mean by "descriptive information". The alt
> attribute should carry the *text alternative* for the *meaning* of the
> image. So "available" might be correct, but "green ball" is not. Neither
> is keyword-stuffing.


Sure - I agree.  I was assuming what Guillaume was getting at was
wanting to say that an image on a page that is there as a green light
to say, for example, an order has been accepted, which should also
have a machine readable alternative, so therefore it seems acceptable
to me to use the @alt with the content of "Order accepted", perhaps.
That would make sense read out still.

> A useful rule of thumb is to read the page out loud, as though you are
> doing so to someone, via a telephone. What would you say, when you came to
> such an image?

Definitely.


-- 
Frances Berriman
http://fberriman.com