I found the same thng with Dreamweaver. Within native Word, the alt tags are not read and neither are they read when the file is converted to html. Within Dreamweaver, I chose the "clean up Word html" command and then the alt tags were read. This worked for both graphics and AutoShapes.

Within native PowerPoint, picture and graphic alt tags are read but AutoShapes alt tags are not. A workaround, suggested by Glenna Shaw who, like me, just finished an EASI course on e-learning and accessibility, is to create a text box and drag it off the screen. A viewer will not see it but JAWS will read it. Another solution is to provide text commentary that describes the visual image, including the AutoShapes.

Litsa Varonis
Multimedia Specialist
The University of Akron

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Cantor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 3:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: More on Text descriptions, Word and screen readers


Earlier I wrote:

> In recent versions of Word, it is possible to enter 
> a text description for an image embedded in a document. 
> The reason for this, I guess, is that the description becomes 
> the Alt tag if the document is exported to html. (I have not tested this.)

I have now tested this. If you embed an image in a Word document, enter alternative text, and export the file to HTML, screen readers (Jaws 4.5 anyway) do NOT read alternative text as alt attributes. 

However, if you clean the code using a utility like HTML-Tidy, screen readers DO decipher the alternative text. 

It would appear that Word's HTML export adds so much convoluted code that alt attributes get lost in the morass. HTML-Tidy (and other similar utilities, I would expect) eliminate a lot of junk code. Screen readers can then make sense of the alt attributes that were entered in Word.

Alan

Alan Cantor
Project Manager
Strategic e-Government Implementation
e-Government, OCCS
416-212-1152
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