452684 - When "Load images automatically" is not checked graphics are not exposed

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: Disability Access, defect)

Description

[Peter Vágner]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1a2pre) Gecko/20080819034536 Minefield/3.1a2pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1a2pre) Gecko/20080819034536 Minefield/3.1a2pre

When "Load images automatically" is not checked in Tools\Options... on the Content tab graphic's objects are not exposed to the accessibility API's. While using Firefox with NVDA I have found that objects reported as graphics are reported as empty text frames while "Load images automatically" is not checked. I think It can be reproduced on any webpage which has images with the alt attribute set.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. go to http://www.getfirefox.com
2. Search for the graphics and compare the results with the "Load images automatically" turned on and off.
Actual Results:  
When "Load images automatically" is off it is inpossible to see objects describing respective graphics nor it is possible to search for them.

Expected Results:  
It should behave the same way no mather if the option "Load images automatically" is checked or not I think.

Comment 1

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Marco and David. What do you think?

Comment 2

[David Bolter [:davidb] (NeedInfo me for attention)]

Happens on Mac too -- tested via Accessibility Inspector.

When "Load images automatically" is ON the inspector correctly identifies a AXRoleDescription="image" with an AXTitle="[the alt text]". When OFF neither the image, nor the alt text shows up in the browser, nor in Accessibility Inspector.

Is it the case that in other browsers, when the image doesn't load, the alt text is shown instead? I'm not 100% sure what should be expected here. Marco?

Comment 3

[Marco Zehe (:MarcoZ)]

I believe not exposing graphic objects for these is correct behavior. After all, sighted users also don't see graphics. Instead, if alt text is present, they'll see that, and that is what a screen reader should also see.

Comment 4

[David Bolter [:davidb] (NeedInfo me for attention)]

Yes definitely don't display images if "Load images automatically" is off. I tend to agree we should display the alt text instead in this situation.

Comment 5

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Attachment: testcase

Mmh, is this really still true? Marco, could you have a look at the testcase and check if the alt text is not exposed to your screen reader?

Comment 6

[Peter Vágner]

I think there must have been a change somewhere because now on windows I can't see the difference it always includes graphic in the IAccessible tree no mather whether this option is checked or not.
Definatelly I can remember tallking about it with marco working like I have described while submitting this issue. Anyway as far as I'm concerned this appears to be fixed at least for windows I think.
Now there is a question how it works on other platforms since david has identified a problem when running on a mac.

Thanks guys

Comment 7

[David Bolter [:davidb] (NeedInfo me for attention)]

Well, I think this boils down to a question of what do users (sighted or not) want/expect when images are not loaded.

If we have some html like:

<p>The <img src="monkey.png" alt="monkey" /> likes bananas.</p>

When load images is off, do we want:

1. The [monkey] likes bananas

or,

2. The    likes bananas.

?

Comment 8

[David Bolter [:davidb] (NeedInfo me for attention)]

Part of knowing the answer is understanding all the use cases. I suspect one use case is mobile browsing... where users could save money by not loading images. I think they would want the alt text. I think everyone stands to gain really.

Comment 9

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Reporter -> Are you still experiencing this issue with the latest version of Firefox 3.6.15? Does the issue occur with the latest nightly? http://nightly.mozilla.org/

Comment 10

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Closing bug as Incomplete - if you are still experiencing this issue or have more information to provide feel free to post back here and we can re-open the bug. You can also get assistance by visiting the Firefox help site -> http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Ask+a+question