Longdesc usage

Current status: Hixie gave another list of 100 URLs which I'm going to be looking at soon.

This is an analysis of how the <img longdesc=""> attribute is used in the wild, based on the list of 62 pages which used the attribute, available at:

http://canvex.lazyilluminati.com/survey/2007-07-17/analyse.cgi/pages/tagattr/img/longdesc

The document list is included at the end of this page, numbered. When referring to pages, I just use their number.

Errors

• 3, 10, 27, 31, and 46 were redirects; I did not check the pages their pointed to.
• 22, 35, and 37 no longer have the string "longdesc" in them.

Results

A large number of the pages were from Wikipedia (or other MediaWiki installations): 1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 17, 19, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30, 36, 43, 45, 54, and 59. MediaWiki has a way of using longdesc particular to itself. Ignoring MediaWiki results:

• 2 pages used longdesc="" (5, 42)
• 3 pages used longdesc="..." linking to an image of some description (41, 44, 56)
• 12 pages used longdesc="..." not as an URL, but as a human-readable description:
  • 4 of which look like SEO attempts (13, 18, 48, 61)
  • 3 of which used the same string as they used for alt text (7, 23, 53)
  • 3 of which has different alt and longdesc text (16, 28, 52)
  • 1 of which used the same string as they did for title="" (15)
  • 1 of which used URL-escaped text (49)
  • 1 of which is in Russian, which I don't understand (32)
• 20 pages used longdesc="..." as an URL:
  • 11 of which point to a location the same as one pointed to with a link nearby (20, 33, 34, 38, 40, 47, 50, 55, 57, 58, 60)
  • 4 of which are broken links (4, 14, 26, 57)
  • 2 of which are valid links but seems not to comply with the spec (12, 39)
  • 2 of which is a correct use of the element (51, 62)
  • 1 of which seems to be better dealt with as a hyperlink rather than a longdesc attribute (8)

On 51, ironically, the only longdesc attribute is used on a link to an automated accessibility checker's website. 62 seems to serve up rather unhelpful text/plain one-liners for longdesc, claiming to be accessible made by a company that does accessible web design.

Links list

1: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Borromini
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation
3: http://www.schirmer.com/composers/schoenberg_essay.html
4: http://www.huntingtonhousing.com
5: http://osierra.com
6: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%90%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B8
7: http://www.norwalkoh.com/
8: http://www.domnowski.de/
9: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morscheid
10: http://www.eng.rpi.edu
11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Yemen
12: http://www.aclu-ia.org/
13: http://airbrush-tanning.us
14: http://www.pr-photography.org/
15: http://www.shakedown.fi/
16: http://www.vds.org.uk
17: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voghiera
18: http://www.babylaundryboutique.com/
19: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A4nische_Sprache
20: http://www.coastal-fisherman.com/
21: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthemius_de_Tralles
22: http://www.hometown.aol.co.uk/thewoburnrally/
23: http://www.oblates.us/spiritual_directory.htm
24: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint_Maarten_national_football_team
25: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Grove,_Iowa
26: http://www.integracomunicaciones.com/
27: http://www.bayern-evangelisch.de/
28: http://www.almaprnjavorac.com
29: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage,_Iowa
30: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Menendez
31: http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/city/pages/qc-150_metric_e.html
32: http://www.paralife.narod.ru
33: http://www.jagdhof.com
34: http://www.austria-lustenau.at/
35: http://www.expressrealestateschool.com
36: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guckheim
37: http://www.vivian-cat.narod.ru/
38: http://www.svirp.dk/
39: http://www.francedirect.net
40: http://www.pointvue.com/cis/
41: http://www.arabicdancer.co.uk/
42: http://kepek.utcaigyorsulas.hu
43: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatina
44: http://www.stopitnow.com/
45: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THEOS
46: http://www.wirtschaft.fh-gelsenkirchen.de/
47: http://www.sannong.com
48: http://www.integrated-robotics.com
49: http://www.waveney.gov.uk/
50: http://www.libraryspot.com/
51: http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/aussieed/
52: http://www.webmeister.dk
53: http://www.magicdomico.com/
54: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaiy%C3%A1n
55: http://www.puntoluce.tv/
56: http://www.bss-ev.de/
57: http://www.lowvillegolf.com/
58: http://www.brandunity.com/
59: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minos
60: http://www.cotondetulear.be/
61: http://www.granhotelguadalpinbanus.com
62: http://www.libertas-solutions.com