Re: [docbook] Alternate text for table and image accessibility - textobject, alt, summary?

[Peter Desjardins <peter.desjardins.us@gmail.com>]

I think you picked the correct list. This one is for discussing
element choice and semantics, I think.

When I was writing for a large company that enforced strict
accessibility requirements I used the alt element for images and
tables. As far as I can tell, the alt element is specifically for
alternate text, as used for accessibility
(http://docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/alt.html).

(Veering into the publishing topic) I find that text in
informalfigure/mediaobject/alt makes its way into the alt attribute of
my HTML img elements. However, text in informaltable/alt elements
seems to go nowhere. And I have a hazy memory of customizing HTML
output for tables in order to handle the alt element in the way my
company required. But it wasn't too hard any you can get help on the
docbook-apps mailing list, which is for discussing publishing tools
and customization.

Good luck!

Peter

On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Janice Manwiller <janice@sqrrl.com> wrote:
> Apologies in advance if this is the wrong list. I've had conflicting advice
> about what to post to docbook vs. docbook-apps.
>
> I'm brand new to DocBook, and am reviewing the current source files for the
> doc set at my new job.
>
> Is there a recommendation for providing alternate text for accessibility?
>
> The current source files have textobject for images and nothing for tables.
>
> Is the alt element better than textobject?
>
> For tables, should I use alt or summary?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Janice