Sent by Chris Heilmann on 29 November 2003 22:10
>
> CHRIS:
>
>> Again, nice idea but totally wrong approach. ALT is an image
>> replacement when there is no images available, title describes the
>> image.
>> That browsers show alt as a tool tip is actually an annoying feature,
>> as it makes people use stupid alt text because they look good.
>
>
> Please see my reply to Ian. I dispute the wrongness of my approach in
> that message. I didn't abuse an alt tag. For what I wanted to do, alt
> was the way to go, not title. My Norsk browser doesn't display ALT in
> a tooltip, so it behaves.
>
> Please remember that with CSS generated content you add functionality
> and there is no tradeoff to suffer through. In my opinion, given a
> minimal markup, it is up to the designer what to use for a particular
> application, and a must-must-not philosophy no longer applies, Chris.
>
I read it, you made a fair point. Please be aware though to flag this up
properly, we have a lot of trouble with wrong alt tags out there, mainly
as people THINK
it is a tooltip, as IE displays it as one. You are wrong in seeing the
cutting of some browsers as a tradeof, and a reason for alt tags to be
short.
You should keep them short as they are being read out in screenreaders,
and too long sentences are useless. Mozilla does it the right way - if
the image is
not available it displays the alt text as a text. The alt therefore
should give the NEEDED information of the image, the title further
information and the longdesc
an explanation that needs an own document (for example when you use
charts, this info cannot fit in alt or title). Longdesc support is bad
in browsers, that
is why some designers started adding [D] links after the image.
Disputable if it is necessary or not.
Wrong visual displays of alt texts are a browser problem, and as you
state below this is not for us to fix. If you want to ensure your alt
texts make sense,
use a textbrowser or a screen reader, not a visual browser with images
turned off (especially not IE which displays alt as a tooltip AND
cuts off the alt text according to how big the image is..
>> On another note, with titles displaying: Ever realised that Mozilla
>> cuts off title tooltips after a certain amount of characters? It adds
>> ... to them. Maybe something to be aware off when going overboard
>> with titles.
>
>
> That is a shortcoming of that browser. When I compose CSS experiments,
> it is not my intention to cater for browser quirks, shortcomings, and
> inefficiencies. All I do is code a minimal markup, and keep to
> standard with respect to CSS, and explore what I can do with it. I
> never said that my work was a recommendation to anyone and everyone
> under the sun.
Sorry, that was "on another note" and just a heads up, nothing against
your script :-)
I like the idea, I still think you shouldn't use alt for the sole reason
that right wording for alt titles and longdesc are an art in itself and
are brutally mistreated.
I spend my days working with clients on a highly graphical site, that
has to be accessible and make sense. There is a lot to be learned about
this, and far
too many people simply add something in alt and title to make bobby shut
up rather than thinking of what people without vision really need.
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