[Blindtlk] html and JAWS question

[Julie J.]

Heya folks!

Yesterday was parent teacher conferences at my teen age son's high 
school.  I had a nice chat with my son's computer languages teacher 
where we discussed accessibility for blind users.  He was already 
including accessibility concerns when designing web pages into his 
regular curriculum.  However having my son in his classroom has helped 
him to understand on a very practical level how that affects real people 
in their daily lives.  My son is sighted, but has grown up with me using 
JAWS and other blindness tools.  When I taught him to use the computer 
ages ago, I taught him the way I do things using the keyboard.  He can 
easily use either keyboard or mouse to do what he needs to do and 
understands how JAWS works on a practical level.

Anyway my question to you all is about tags for graphics.  I don't know 
HTML so forgive me if I explain this oddly.  I have always thought that 
JAWS is reading the alt text associated with a graphic when that is 
provided.  This text is provided in the coding process and is not 
visible to the sighted user.  The computer instructor has moved away 
from this text and is teaching his students to use the title function 
for graphics.  I think this is what I have called the mouse over text.  
It is what appears when sighted users hover their mouse on the graphic.  
I'm pretty sure JAWS will read this text and that it doesn't matter so 
much which way the graphics are labeled so long as they are labeled.  Am 
I correct?

The instructor did know about Voice Over on Apple products.  I gave him 
the info to be able to download the demo version of JAWS so they could 
use that to test pages for accessibility in the classroom.

What else should I let the instructor know is important for blind 
users?  I am so excited to have found a teacher who is so proactive in 
including accessibility as the standard in his classroom! I am also 
super proud of my son for explaining to his teacher how JAWS works and 
how what they are doing or not doing affects blind people.

Julie