[theme-reviewers] Accessibility Auditing of themes - next steps

[Otto]

On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 3:04 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:
>> > What about custom header images, specifically? That's the one instance
>> > where
>> > a Theme would potentially output a non-decorative image in the template.
>>
>> Then the custom header image needs to have an appropriate alt
>> attribute. What that alt attribute is, however, would be determined by
>> the content of the image -- if it includes text, that text must be in
>> the alt attribute. I think that if a theme provides an image, then
>> that image needs to have an alt attribute. An empty alt attribute is
>> entirely acceptable, assuming that the image doesn't require alternate
>> content.
>
> The reason I ask about the custom header image is because, by definition,
> the Theme won't have any way to know what the image content is. If an empty
> alt tag is appropriate and acceptable, that might be the best approach.

I may have missed something, but generally, custom header images, if
using the core custom header functionality, are shown as CSS
backgrounds. That's the easiest and most compatible way to do it,
especially if you're designing to look good on mobile too.

Now, I grant you that you don't *have* to do it that way, but
twenty-eleven/twelve/thirteen all do, and I expect many themes have
copied code from them. Twenty Ten, notably, did not do it that way and
used an IMG tag, with a blank alt.

-Otto