Opened 11 months ago

Closed 6 months ago

#21176 closed defect (bug) (fixed)

"Alernate Text" should be "Alt" or "Alternative"

Reported by: alecrust Owned by: nacin
Priority: normal Milestone: 3.5
Component: Media Version: 3.4.1
Severity: minor Keywords: easy-fix has-patch commit
Cc:

Description

The media uploader provides an "Alternate Text" field which populates the image's "alt" attribute.

The word "alternate" means "to occur in turn repeatedly". This is incorrect usage of this word.

"alt" is abbreviated from the word "alternative", so this field's label should read "Alt Text" or "Alternative Text".

Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H37

Attachments (3)

21176.diff (1.4 KB) - added by RyanJKoehler 11 months ago.
changed "Alternate" to "Alternative"
21176.2.diff (377 bytes) - added by SergeyBiryukov 6 months ago.
21176.2.2.diff (372 bytes) - added by mikehansenme 6 months ago.

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (17)

  • Keywords needs-patch easy-fix added

We already have "Alt Text" in the help text under the input, so I guess it should be "Alternative Text".

Agreed, as long as "Alternative Text" fits in the space nicely :)

Shall I create a fork on GitHub or just leave this case to be resolved by one of you guys?

The WordPress repo on github is just a mirror. Development happens here, so you can upload a patch, if you want.

changed "Alternate" to "Alternative"

  • Keywords has-patch added; needs-patch removed
  • Milestone changed from Awaiting Review to 3.5

It also means "A person who acts as a deputy or substitute" which is obviously the meaning intended when the specs used to say "alternate text" everywhere.

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/objects.html#h-13.8

These days the specs like to say "text alternatives". Of course this is UI, not a spec, so we don't have to use the same language. So, yeah.

I believe that usage of the word "alternate" is American-English specific and therefore not appropriately universal. Perhaps that's why they no longer use it that way in the spec.

Last edited 8 months ago by alecrust (previous) (diff)

Looks good. Ready for commit.

  • Keywords commit added
  • Owner set to nacin
  • Resolution set to fixed
  • Status changed from new to closed

In [21917]:

It is 'Alternative Text', not 'Alternate Text'. props alecrust, RyanJKoehler. fixes #21176.

  • Resolution fixed deleted
  • Status changed from closed to reopened

My bad just realized there was an updated patch... ignore mine.

Ah yes, we fixed this in wp-langs.php for non-English, but not wp-langs-en.js.

  • Resolution set to fixed
  • Status changed from reopened to closed

In 22996:

Alternative Text, not Alternate Text. props SergeyBiryukov. fixes #21176.

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