[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #62107: The WordPress media library does not use its own alt text

[WordPress Trac]

#62107: The WordPress media library does not use its own alt text
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 Reporter:  CynicalStudios  |       Owner:  joedolson
     Type:  defect (bug)    |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal          |   Milestone:
Component:  Media           |     Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal          |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch       |     Focuses:  accessibility
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Changes (by CynicalStudios):

 * status:  closed => reopened
 * resolution:  invalid =>


Comment:

 My issue with the "checkbox with an accessible name" approach is that it
 actually shows the filename even for images with alt text.

 As a real-life example from my day job - MacOS voiceover will read the
 tile associated with this image as "DCT-2103-logo garden-01 at 2x" rather
 than "PBS logo".

 [[Image(https://i.imgur.com/PkmhZdG.png)]]

 Obviously, it's not the best filename in the world, but, WCAG is only
 focused on the image name being accessible, not the filename. You can see
 from the fact that the filename accessibility rule has been deprecated(1)
 and replaced with the rule that image names should be accessible (2). It's
 considered an accessibility failure if the filename isn't suitable as alt
 text(3).

 I totally understand not using the alt text if there is none available,
 but I don't think in a world where WordPress allows us to add alt text to
 images, that the alt text should not be used as a label for said images -
 probably some kind of hybrid approach would be best for cases where there
 maybe be multiple images with the same description but different filenames
 due to differences in crop/resolution etc.

 That being said, my initial patch was naive in the sense that it doesn't
 adjust the checkbox label you mentioned, as I hadn't noticed it due to it
 not using the actual alt text. I can put in an updated patch if such a
 thing is warranted but if I won't bother if it's still seen as invalid.

 1: [https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-
 guidelines/act/rules/9eb3f6/proposed/]
 2: [https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/rules/qt1vmo/]
 3: [https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/failures/F30]

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62107#comment:6>
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