Prior to the current version of WordPress (2.8.x), the last version I used was 2.2, back in 2007. I’ve noticed many differences between the two versions, one of which is the use of captions and caption boxes for images. There’s a reason I dislike these, which I’m going to discuss now.
I shall first note that I mostly like the captioning system, for it is quick and easy to use. The problem I do have, however, is that you are made to use the same text for the caption and the alternative text (the alt attribute for your img tag, that is). And yes, you can obviously change either one once you’ve inserted the image, but I don’t know if people even see the problem with it in the first place.
The problem I mentioned is the fact that if users do not have images displayed in their browser or use a screen reader to read them the text, the alternative text will be displayed or read instead of users seeing the image. So basically, in a browser where images do not load, the same text will be displayed twice (once as the alternative text, and once as the caption), which seems completely redundant. Even worse, a screen reader will read both the alternative text and the caption1.
Further, I think that when creating caption text, bloggers will have a caption under an image in mind. That is, they won’t create alt text that fills its purpose. As I discuss in my website accessibility article, the purpose of alt text is to serve as a meaningful substitute for when images do not display. When creating caption text, people who are not aware of this will probably write something more suited for the title attribute.
If WordPress captions have to share with something, the title attribute, whose2 purpose is to provide further information about an image, makes much more sense.
