[html4all] Omitting alt Attribute for Critical Content Wiki page

[Harry Loots]

Laura - i promised last week i'd comment; and despite being later than
expected, here it is. Just two words: "excellent document".

one comment on the comment: 

The current listed "Solutions" i believe should be:

1. User enters attribute "_none" (alt="_none"). This entered value signifies a
conscious decision by the author that the associated image's alt attribute
should be empty.

2. Authoring tool (CMS) enters value "_omit" (or other) to signify that the
content editor has omitted alt attribute. This is the equivalent generated
value to hand-coded _none. (By providing this ability we make a clear
distinction between user entered and Authoring Tool generated.). 

3. Authoring tool (CMS) enters value "_ignored". This generated value
signifies that content editor ignored the alt attribute.


I remain of the opinion that a conscious decision should be made when it comes
to the alt attribute. I have simply sat too many nights around the campfire
with non-believers to think that this can be ignored.

The exception to this rule would be if an alternative attribute is proposed
(eg: 'caption'), and User Agents can be 'taught' to display this attribute
value in a manner similar to the table caption element. (This attribute would
require CSS styling as well.)

A further issue which requires some thinking is the dual usage of the alt and
title attributes in img. This i tend to think leads to confusion - i have yet
to see the value of a 'tooltip' obscuring the text below it...

Regards
Harry
mob: +44 (0) 794 034 3919

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience, of course, is the result 
of poor judgement.
               - Geoff Tabin


---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Laura Carlson" <laura.lee.carlson at gmail.com>
To: html4all <list at html4all.org>
Sent: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:32:47 -0500
Subject: [html4all] Omitting alt Attribute for Critical Content Wiki page

> Hi,
> 
> I've started a HTML5 working group Wiki page for gathering info on 
> the the "Omitting the alt Attribute for Critical Content" issue.
> 
> Before I link it to the main issues page and announce it over there,
> I'd like to run it by the html4all group for review.
> 
> Comments and ideas for improvement are greatly appreciated. The page 
> is at: http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/IssueAltAttribute
> 
> Many thanks.
> 
> Best Regards,
> Laura
> 
> _______________________________________________
> List_HTML4all.org mailing list
> https://www.html4all.org/wiki
------- End of Original Message -------