Recommendation 3.1.1 Use appropriate mark-up language when it exists
New standards released
The New Zealand Web Standards 2.0 were released in March 2009 and replace the previous version, the New Zealand Government Web Standards 1.0 (below). See Meeting the standards for more information.
Recommendation
Recommendation 3.1.1 When an appropriate mark-up language exists, use mark-up rather than images to convey information.
Guide to this recommendation
Though covered by other standards, the most common and likely relevant areas that this recommendation will cover in NZ Government web sites are:
Avoid images to represent text – use text and styles sheets, and Avoid tables (and frames) for layout and presentation – use style sheets instead.
Beyond this, if there is a W3C-endorsed mark-up for a specific information presentation category, utilise it, especially in preference to the easiest alternative of presenting in a graphic. A good example of this is the presentation of mathematical formulae. The W3C has mark-up for this.
This recommendation covers the W3C WAI checkpoint 3.1 for NZ government agencies.
Related Standard(s)
9.2 - Use style sheets to control layout and presentation of page and elements
11.3 - Do not use tables for layout, use style sheets instead
12.1 - Frames are not to be used
Rationale for this recommendation
Mark-up is more likely to be "understood" by assistive technologies such as screen readers and Braille displays. This enhances accessibility for users who utilise such assistive technologies.
Images contain their meaning within the context of their visual presentation. They share little of their meaning to the document they are imbedded in, and thus offer a weak descriptive contribution to the information describing the overall document structure.
Resizing of images is not universally supported in all browsers, or the browser may have limitations in this capacity. This can cause problems when text is presented as an image for users who need to enlarge the text.
