• Success Criterion 1.2.3
  • Conformance level A

Transcript That Only Covers Dialogue, Not What’s On Screen

1.2.3 — Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)

Scenario

Setting

A food delivery app's restaurant menu

What’s wrong

"Transcript" provided is dialogue-only — omits descriptions of important visual content, so it isn't a valid media alternative.

Example 

<video src="/restaurant/chefs-special-video.mp4" controls></video>
<!-- On-screen text overlay reads "Today's Special: Seafood Paella, $24,
     limited to 20 orders" but the transcript below never mentions it -->
<div class="transcript-tab">
  <p>Today I'm making my grandmother's paella, a recipe passed down for three generations.</p>
</div>

Why it matters

A blind diner reading only the transcript learns a nice story about grandma's paella but never finds out it costs $24 or that only 20 orders are available.

How to test

Read the 'transcript' provided: if it only records spoken dialogue and skips describing important visuals (who did what, what appeared on screen), it fails.

How to fix

A valid media alternative must include on-screen text and visual information, not just what's spoken aloud.

<video src="/restaurant/chefs-special-video.mp4" controls></video>
<div class="transcript-tab">
  <p>Today I'm making my grandmother's paella, a recipe passed down for three generations.</p>
  <p>[On-screen text: Today's Special, Seafood Paella, $24, limited to 20 orders.]</p>
</div>

Outcome

A blind diner reads the price and order limit and places their order before the special sells out.

Who is affected

Blind and low-vision diners using the transcript as their only source miss pricing and availability details that only ever appear as on-screen text.

Learn more

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