[oslc-core] Need to add alt/title property to the Compact UI Preview specifcation

[Steve K Speicher]

Bill,

I'll put on an upcoming Core WG meeting to discuss.

I think it is a reasonable request to add in a couple of recommended 
properties, such as:

   <oslc:icon rdf:resource="http://example.com/icons/defect.jpg" />
   <oslc:iconAltLabel>Defect</oslc:iconAltLabel>
   <oslc:iconTitle>Defect Icon</oslc:iconTitle>

Further extended what is defined in [1].  Be interested if others have 
concerns with this approach or any alternative suggestions.

[1] - http://open-services.net/bin/view/Main/OslcCoreUiPreview

Thanks,
Steve Speicher | IBM Rational Software | (919) 254-0645

> From: "Bill Andreas" <Bill_Andreas at notesdev.ibm.com>
> To: oslc-core at open-services.net, 
> Date: 02/15/2012 04:27 PM
> Subject: [oslc-core] Need to add alt/title property to the Compact UI 
> Preview specifcation
> Sent by: oslc-core-bounces at open-services.net
> 
> The current specification of an OSLC Compact UI Preview defines an icon 
as 
> part of the specification but does not provide a means to provide any 
> accessibility information about that icon.  As a consequence, when the 
> compact preview information is displayed, the visualization is not 
> accessible (fails to provide an alternative explanation of an image). 
> 
> The nub of the issue here is that the compact UI Preview defines an icon 
as 
> simply a resource (a reference to an image file) but it does not allow 
> information about that icon to be provided that is needed for to render 
> "accessible" HTML markup. 
> 
> Property 
> 
> Value-type 
> 
> Occurs 
> 
> Description 
> 
> oslc:icon 
> 
> Resource 
> 
> zero-or-one 
> 
> URI of an image which may be used in the display of a link to the 
resource. 
> The image SHOULD be 16x16 pixels in size. 
> 
> 
> 
> When the UI renders the icon, we'll display something like: 
> 
> <img class="iconNode" dojoattachpoint="iconNode" src="https://
> 
rqmx64a.rtp.raleigh.ibm.com:9443/qm/web/com.ibm.asq.common.web/ui/internal/
> images/icons/obj16/qm_testcase16.gif"> 
> 
> The accessibility issue is that there is no title or alt property 
associated
> with the image.  The icon conveys information (it's commonly a visual 
> representation of the "type" of the thing being previewed).  Since the 
icon 
> conveys information accessibility standards require that the alt or 
title 
> (or both) properties be set on the img tag with a meaningful string 
assigned to them.
> 
> None of the values currently in the compact rendering specification are 
> suitable for use as the alt/title text for the icon.  (So we leave 
alt/title
> unvalued and accessibility checking software immediately flags the 
rendered 
> icon as failing accessibility). 
> 
> There are a couple of ways this could be solved.  One mechanism used in 
some
> other standards is to simply allow the title/alt text (and potentially 
other
> HTML attributes) to be specified as arguments on the URI used to specify 
the
> image, e.g., "foobar.com/fancy_icon.gif?title=Fancy Pants Icon".  The 
other 
> mechanism would be to add an attribute to the specification 
"Icon-alt-text" 
> or some such thing. 
> 
> In most uses, a single string is used as both the alt and title property 
of 
> an img tag (the two properties serve a very similar purpose), so only 
one 
> value is needed.  There are odd cases where someone might really want 
the 
> alt text to be lengthier then the title text (the title text is 
displayed in
> a tooltip, the alt text is handed to screen readers and displayed if the 

> icon doesn't load). 
> 
> The need for specifying the alt/title text for the icon is rather 
pressing. 
> Longer term, there may be a need to allow other kinds of HTML properties 
to 
> be specified (which is why some standards just throw these properties, 
as 
> needed, onto the URI instead of making them separate attributes).  For 
> example, there is talk that both the lang and dir attributes may need to 
be 
> set on icons (some globalization people have been clamoring for this). 
So 
> in deciding how to best handle alt/title text, we may want to think 
about 
> possible (similar) future needs,. 
> 
> --  Bill Andreas 
> 
> Senior Designer 
> Rational Software
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