Posted by Jukka K. Korpela on 03/02/07 17:23

Scripsit Andrew Thompson:

> alt='Java must be enabled for this applet to work'

Do you think that would be an ALTernative way of presenting the information
that would be conveyed by the applet if it were run?

>> This applet was coded using Java 1.5.0_08-b03.</applet>

That's of course very clueless. The content of an <applet> element is
supposed to specify an alternative content, not to act as a comment.

Thus, I think we can safely assume that the applet has no useful purpose,
so - assuming that it is retained - its content should be empty, and it
should have alt="" to signal that.

> Try the 'alt' attribute, but some
> PC/browser/plug-in/security setting
> combinations will simply present a big
> gray square (and not even a message),
> no matter what you do.

Indeed. That's one reason for avoiding Java applets on web pages. But if you
use them, the alternatives should make sense. One of the few browsers with
_adequate_ support to <applet>, Lynx, displays first the content of the alt
attribute, then the content of the element (excluding <param> elements of
course), so there should be no duplication in them. And, of course, if the
"alternative content" just babbles about software that the user is not using
and won't use, it will be a useful cluelessness indication.

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

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