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Posted by cwdjrxyz on 06/04/07 03:58
On Jun 3, 9:05 pm, Adrienne Boswell <arb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Gazing into my crystal ball I observed dorayme
> <doraymeRidT...@optusnet.com.au> writing in news:doraymeRidThis-
> 9656FC.02542803062...@news-vip.optusnet.com.au:
>
> > In article <Xns994362DA21634arbpenyahoo...@69.28.186.121>,
> > Adrienne Boswell <arb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >> You leave the alt attribute blank if the image is for decoration. For
> >> example:
>
> >> <h1><img src="companylogo.png" alt="" height="100" width="200">Company
> >> Name</h1>
>
> > You can also leave it out altogether. What are the bad
> > consequences beyond failing validation because of it?
>
> If you leave out the alt attribute in Opera, for example, it creates an
> image placeholder that says Image, if you use alt="", it does not. You
> would be surprised how many slice and dice sites I've been to that have
> Image on them 20 times or more. This is especially true if you turn
> images off (and I sometimes do even though I have broadband).
Since the alt text is often needed by the disabled, it sometimes pays
to include it for absolutely all images, even those serving for
nonessential pure decoration, even if using alt="" many be quite legal
formally. In the past disabled people where grateful for any help they
might get, because so often they got none. However, at least in the
US, as the years have passed, some disabled activists have become very
vocal about their rights. There attitude might be to label all images
used with alt and let them decide if they are interested or not. Or,
what gives you the right to decide for them only what you think they
should want to read about - after all you likely do not have their
disability. A few months ago a woman, who appeared very well
qualified, was selected to head the leading university for deaf people
in the US. She apparently could use and understand sign language very
well. However she was not deaf. Many of the students did not think a
non-deaf person could be qualified, no matter what other
qualifications were. There were large student demonstrations. In the
end someone else was given the job. I repeat this story here not to
argue the merits of it pro or con. I am just pointing out that if you
are writing a web site likely to be used by large numbers of disabled,
it is best not to assume that they do not need something.
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