alt attribute on spacer giff's

how important

[mossimo]

Any one know about alt attribute on spacer giff's
Is it really necessary, I can’t see any reason to include it nor can I see any consequence of its absence?

Let me know thanks.

[dmorison]

No consequence under traditional HTML.

If you've specified a DOCTYPE that mandates alt attributes for image elements then "technically" you should include one, but I don't know of a user agent (except [validator.w3.org...] ;) that is going to argue about it.

[mossimo]

That’s what I thought dmorison just needed to hear some one say it.

[matkat]

For spacer gifs or small images like arrows, etc. I use alt="" to take care of the validation.

[g1smd]

>> I use alt="" to take care of the validation. <<

That is the best way to do it. The alt is a required element in HTML 4 and above, so you cannot leave it out; however the specification says nothing about giving the attribute value as a null value. So, by using alt="" you have used alt without having to put some mindless text in the value. Imagine how a blind surfer, using a talking browser, would feel to hear "spacer" read out hundreds of times when looking at your site?

[davis]

I think the alt tab is more for users who dont automatically download images... and just go 'show image'... no one cares about looking at spacers, so dont include them :)

Personally, I think a spacer feature should be included into HTML... :)

[g1smd]

HTML is to describe the structure of the document, paragraphs, headers, etc, not the layout of it; and that will become more important as ever more compact and portable "web-devices" are developed.