Discussion Forum

JeredOdegard

Member

Registered: March 29, 2013

Posts: 12

Image ALT tags

Hey is there any way to store meta-data about photos within the gallery/photo_uploader? My specific use-case is for having alt-tags on photos included in a template and not adding superfluous fields if possible.

timbuckingham

Administrator

From: Baltimore, MD

Registered: April 2, 2012

Posts: 978

Re: Image ALT tags

The default photo uploader doesn't store any information other than the path. If you upload things into the file browser you can set their "name" field (which is used as the caption in photo gallery fields). You could query bigtree_resources for the file name (you'll need to do a str_replace of STATIC_ROOT with {staticroot} and query for that value) and retrieve the "name" that's set for alt tags as well.

We've been discussing alt tags internally and whether we'd add support for them in the core of BigTree. Where we stand right now is that most alt tags actually impede a blind user's ability to browse a page efficiently (i.e. "Photo of girl in front of a tree" doesn't convey information that's actually useful in the context of a page, but the image itself is nice when visible).

JeredOdegard

Member

Registered: March 29, 2013

Posts: 12

Re: Image ALT tags

I agree with you that alt tags do little do improve the site experience of a visually impaired user and maybe even make it worse. However, many organizations are required as protocol to comply with the ADA so to not be sued. My understanding of this compliance from an ideological perspective is that we provide equal opportunity for visually impaired users. In practice though, this usually means following dated and ineffective modes of development.

Although we might have qualms with the actual usefulness for blind users, I think for a wider spread adoption of BigTree you may consider adding it to the core.

timbuckingham

Administrator

From: Baltimore, MD

Registered: April 2, 2012

Posts: 978

Re: Image ALT tags

Cool, we'll keep the discussion going internally and take your thoughts into consideration. BigTree's always evolving so nothing is set in stone (as long as it doesn't break backwards compatibility). It's entirely possible that this could end up in BigTree 4.1 (probably as an optional on/off toggle for those that don't want to have to click through alt tag prompts).

visconti

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: May 22, 2015

Posts: 27

Re: Image ALT tags

Working on a new project, and I would second this feature Tim!