Compliance with the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

Please be advised that all publications submitted after May 2025 must comply with the requirements of the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The EAA aims to ensure that all digital content is accessible to individuals with disabilities (e.g., those with vision issues or who rely on screen readers). The critical requirement for your submission at this stage is the mandatory provision of Alternative Text ("Alt Text") for all images. Failure to provide Alt Text will result in your paper being excluded from the final proceedings.

Understanding and Creating Alt Text

Alt Text is a concise description of an image read by screen readers or other assistive technologies, conveying the image's purpose and context to the user. It should go beyond simply describing the visual; it must offer context on how the image connects to the surrounding content.

Key Requirements

• Provide Alt Text for all images, diagrams, and figures.
• Alt Text must be descriptive and clearly explain the content and purpose of the image.
• Example: For an image of a pie chart, the Alt Text should be: “A pie chart showing 60% of respondents preferred Option A and 40% preferred Option B.”
• Conciseness is Crucial: While there is no strict character limit, it is strongly recommended to keep Alt Text between 125 and 150 characters. Many screen readers pause after 125 characters, requiring the user to manually press 'Enter' to continue. Keeping it concise ensures better accessibility.
• For complex images, include a detailed description in the main body text or as part of the caption.

LaTeX Implementation Example

The following LaTeX example demonstrates how to add Alt Text using the \pdftooltip command from the pdfcomment package:

\documentclass{ws-procs9x6}      
\usepackage{pdfcomment}

\begin{document}

…

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\pdftooltip{\includegraphics[width=4.5in]{procs-fig1}}{Alter text text text text test}
\end{center}
\caption{The bifurcating response curves of system
$\alpha=0.5, \beta=1.8; \delta=0.2, \gamma=0$: (a)
$\mu=-1.3$; and (b) $\mu=0.3$.}
\label{aba:fig1}
\end{figure}

…

\end{document}