make image map accessible to partially sighted users?

Hello,

I have an image map of a human figure which has 250 rectangles so that
the user can click on parts of the body.

Is it possible to make this image map more accessible for partially
sighted users ?

Cheers,

Geoff

Scripsit Geoff Cox:

> I have an image map of a human figure which has 250 rectangles so that
> the user can click on parts of the body.

Why rectangles? Most parts of _my_ body aren't rectangular. :-)

> Is it possible to make this image map more accessible for partially
> sighted users ?

Yes, but this isn't really a CSS issue. Well, maybe in part.

You can, and indeed should, have a descriptive alt="..." attribute for
each part. This may help users who use a screen reader together with a
graphic browser. It also helps blind people (assuming the linked
information is accessible to them), especially if you put the
elements in some suitable reading order, such as alphabetic by the
alt="..." attribute value.

One of the problems is that graphic browsers generally display the alt
attribute value as a "tooltip" in a small window in a tiny font. If the
font were bigger, the "tooltip" could help partially sighted users. But
you cannot make it bigger in CSS. It is usually a system configuration
option, so it should be handled by the user, or for the user by someone
who can access his computer.

However, you could additionally have some display of explanatory texts
using other techniques, such as JavaScript and event attributes; and
then CSS would have some role to play (e.g. for making the info display
use a large font).

For some more info, check
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/html/mapalt.html

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

On Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:35:25 +0300, "Jukka K. Korpela"
wrote:

>Scripsit Geoff Cox:
>
>> I have an image map of a human figure which has 250 rectangles so that
>> the user can click on parts of the body.
>
>Why rectangles? Most parts of _my_ body aren't rectangular. :-)
>
>> Is it possible to make this image map more accessible for partially
>> sighted users ?
>
>Yes, but this isn't really a CSS issue. Well, maybe in part.
>
>You can, and indeed should, have a descriptive alt="..." attribute for
>each part. This may help users who use a screen reader together with a
>graphic browser. It also helps blind people (assuming the linked
>information is accessible to them), especially if you put the
>elements in some suitable reading order, such as alphabetic by the
>alt="..." attribute value.
>
>One of the problems is that graphic browsers generally display the alt
>attribute value as a "tooltip" in a small window in a tiny font. If the
>font were bigger, the "tooltip" could help partially sighted users. But
>you cannot make it bigger in CSS. It is usually a system configuration
>option, so it should be handled by the user, or for the user by someone
>who can access his computer.
>
>However, you could additionally have some display of explanatory texts
>using other techniques, such as JavaScript and event attributes; and
>then CSS would have some role to play (e.g. for making the info display
>use a large font).
>
>For some more info, check
>http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/html/mapalt.html


thanks Jukka - will give this some more thought. In the mean while I
have made an alternative page with radio button and the names of parts
of the body.

Cheers

Geoff