[whatwg] Alt attribute for <video> and <audio>

[Remco]

On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 2:15 AM, Tab Atkins Jr.<jackalmage at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Remco<remco47 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> My search was indeed too quick. I stand corrected.
>>
>> Captions/subtitles seem like a very good idea for accessibility, but
>> in addition to that I think that an alt attribute would still be
>> appropriate for browsers that can't display the media at all. The alt
>> is a replacement for an external element that cannot be displayed at
>> all for whatever reason. It replaces the element. That's why I would
>> suggest alt attributes for objects, embeds, frames, etc. too.
>
> If a particular UA does not support the <video> element at all, it
> should display the fallback content inside the element.
>
> ~TJ
>

But that fallback content will not be rendered when the video isn't
available. The same is true for audio. Object, embed and iframe don't
have any fallback at all. If these external resources are unavailable,
or if administrative policies prevent loading of external resources,
there is no alternative content. It will just be an empty square on
the page (or skipped by a screenreader / ignored by a textual browser,
etc.). I would argue that alternative content is just as useful for
any external content as it is for the specific external content that
is images.

Remco