An Eagle Eye for Stupid Details

For those who don't know HTML, every picture can have an "ALT" attribute that describes the contents of the image to sight impaired people using a screen reader. Since screen readers are linear, any blind user would be forced to listen to a really long description for a logo that sighted people would quickly glance past.

And then there's this confirmation email I received today from the US Postal Service.

Screenshot of a really bad alt attribute barely visible in the tiny box

See the box above? The full ALT text reads: "USPS.com home. The profile of an eagle's head adjoining the words United States Postal Service are the two elements that are combined to form the corporate signature"

And here's what that ALT text is describing:

Actual logo that defies being described with only one or two words

And sighted people might realize that this logo doesn't even have the words "United States Postal Service"

1 Comment on this post

LOL, that's interesting to hear!

Lori

Aug. 17, 2017 at 3:37 pm

 

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