[BlindMath] [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Re: long descriptions of mathematical images

[Robin Williams]

Hi Alex,

Nikita's suggestion of including the figure numbers in the original alt text is a good one. One thing I would add is that you could / should label the button one needs to activate in order to expand the description. Apart from that, I like the description you've used, and I think having them collapsed by default is sensible. One final suggestion might be to indicate to screen reader users at the top of the page that they should turn on the reading of punctuation, if they haven't already.

It's great that you're putting thought in to this - other high profile organisations should take note, so thank you.

All the best,
Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Alex Jordan via BlindMath
Sent: 09 July 2022 21:42
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Alex Jordan <alex.jordan at pcc.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Re: [BlindMath] long descriptions of mathematical images

Thank you Nikita,

Would it be ok practice for the alt text to direct readers to the long description in the figcaption, instead of offering a short description?

Alex

On Sat, Jul 9, 2022, 4:46 AM Nikita via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Hi Alex.
> For long descriptions of images, it is better to use special semantic 
> tags <figure> and <figcaption> For example:
>
> <figure aria-labelledby="img1">
> <img id="img1" alt="Short description"> <figcaption> <p>Long 
> description.</p> </figcaption> </figure>
>
> The content of the <figcaption> element can be visually hidden or made 
> into an expandable spoiler, as in your prototype.
> Sincerely, Nikita.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Alex 
> Jordan via BlindMath
> Sent: Saturday, July 09, 2022 3:26 AM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics 
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Alex Jordan <alex.jordan at pcc.edu>
> Subject: [BlindMath] long descriptions of mathematical images
>
> Hello,
>
> I contribute to some open source projects in math education. A 
> challenge with images on the web in the context of math education is 
> how to describe them for screen reader users. The normal advice for 
> alt text does not always apply, since you often would like the reader 
> to extract something from the image without directly telling them what 
> they are supposed to get out of it. And if alt text becomes too long, 
> then some screen readers cut it off at 100 characters or so.
>
> I wanted to ask this community if you know of good strategies for this 
> issue.
>
> I also want to ask for criticism of a method I am experimenting with.
> In this method, I follow the image with an HTML details tag with a 
> summary tag. The img alt text asks you to read the longer description 
> in the details tag. There is an aria-describedby that references the 
> div within the details tag where the description lives. Here is a toy
> example:
>
> https://spot.pcc.edu/~ajordan/temp/graphdetailssummarytest.html
>
> May I ask this community, in particular blind AT users, for feedback?
> If you follow that link, what criticism/commentary/observations do you 
> have about this method for describing an image? Please forgive me if 
> the description itself is poorly written.
>
> Thank you,
> Alex
>
> --
> Alex Jordan
> Mathematics Instructor
> Portland Community College
>
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