On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 11:05:05PM +0100, David Carlisle wrote:
> > From what I understood from the input shown by David (`@center
> @image{./flowchartdemo,www,hhh,a flowchart}` ), I think that the
> `actualtext` option would be difficult to use as the input doesn't make
> the distinction. But it would be good if an existing non-empty alternative
> text is at least added as `alt={text}`, and if an empty or missing
> alternative text is mapped to the key `artifact`.
>
>
> I think that texi2any can always add the alt text if it is there. If you
> want to support older latex use
>
> \usepackage{graphicx}
> \makeatletter
> \define@key{Gin}{alt}{}
> \makeatother
>
> I tested this on overleaf back to a 2014 release
> https://www.overleaf.com/read/zpjhtwqxdwtt#76f551
>
> although actually it would work back to 1993 (it's my code:-)
>
> I don't think that a missing alternative text in the texinfo source should
> be mapped to artifact, that would cause the image to be completely
> omitted from screen readings and derived html etc.
>
> If the author hasn't added alternative text for the image just don't use
> alt at all. LaTeX, if tagging is enabled, will use the filename as alt text
> and warn the user, which might encourage them to add a better image
> description, but that's the author's choice, not something fixable in the
> texinfo or latex processing.
>
> As I commented on github I think perhaps that's _all_ you need to do.
It appears that Patrice has implemented output of the "alt" attribute for
images from texi2any in LaTeX output (yesterday, 2026-08-05). Are you able to
test it from the Texinfo git repository to see if that is enough for you
to be easily able to make "accessible" PDF files in the format you require?
That to me would be the first thing to check before we discuss other possible
changes to the output.
> If you start to add options to add
> \DocumentMetadata{} and other tagging related declarations you may end up
> needing multiple options to control exactly what gets added and in practice
> anyone processing the generated latex can add these as needed anyway.
>
> David
> hopefully moving this to the bug-texinfo list without cross linking to the
> latex github.
