Posted by Jukka K. Korpela on 05/29/05 09:04

"Luigi Donatello Asero" <jaggillarfotboll@telia.com> wrote:

> Can I write a description of each photo on the webpage
> https://www.scaiecat-spa-gigi.com/
> in several language within "alt"?

You can, but you should not. The main purpose of "alt" is
accessibility, and throwing some text in two languages at a user causes
problems to many. After all, there are _millions_ of people who only
know _one_ language!

To do their primary job well, "alt" texts should be as short as
possible (but not shorter).

Besides, the "alt" attribute should be a description, but a
replacement. In a photo gallery, it needs to serve mainly the secondary
function of identification. It by no means makes an image _caption_
unnecessary.

> Or should I use perhaps "longdesc"?

No. It is an exercise in utility: no proven usefulness in practice, and
a questionable idea from the beginning.

> Or what else?

Create versions of the page in different languages, using whatever
tools you find suitable.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

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