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

[Steve K Speicher]

Core WG Members,

I have not heard any feedback on this proposal so I'd like to queue it up 
and move forward with it.  Specifically looking to see if there would be 
any implementation impact.  I would assume most use XPath-like ways to get 
at the elements they are interested in and therefore would not be 
impacted.  I have heard it might be good to instead have a parent element 
of "icon" and child elements of "url", "altLabel" and "title".  The 
indirection doesn't add too much.  Recall the 
application/x-oslc-compact+xml (aka UIPreview) is a XML format (not RDF).

If you have any issue with this proposal, please raise by August 1st. 
Otherwise, I'll take previous discussion (and general support for it) as 
indication there is consensus.

http://open-services.net/bin/view/Main/OslcCoreMeetings20120222
http://open-services.net/bin/view/Main/OslcCoreV2Issues #37

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

> From: Steve K Speicher/Raleigh/IBM
> To: "Bill Andreas" <Bill_Andreas at notesdev.ibm.com>, 
> Cc: oslc-core at open-services.net
> Date: 02/21/2012 04:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [oslc-core] Need to add alt/title property to the Compact 
UI 
> Preview specifcation
> 
> 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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> > Oslc-Core at open-services.net
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