Do "alt Tags" work on the Mac IE?

[DonnyZ]

Do "alt Tags" work on the Mac IE? If so, how do I get them to work? I am doing some work for a "client" who insists that his/her "alt tags" work always. They seem to be there in the Windows format, but when on the MacIE there is none.
Anyone?

[moltar]

IE make a mistake of showing alt tags when you hover on the image. The right way to use alt tags is display them only when the image is unavailable. Could that be that on Macs they did it the right way?

Try to view the page with images disabled. Do the alt tags show up?

[sonjay]

moltar is correct: alt tags are *not* meant as "tool tip" type pop-up thingies; they're there for when images are unavailable. That's why they're called "alt" tags. IE on Windows does it wrong.

If you want the tool-tip thingy, you can use the "title" tag: title="This is the title for my image". If you want to make really really sure it always appears, use both: title="whatever" alt="whatever"

[Macguru]

You guys are both right. Thanks to sonjay for providing a solution. (you beat me :) )

So I just want to nitpick...

Technically, there is no such thing as an ALT "tag". ALT is an attribute inside the IMG tag.

Both ALT and title are attributes, not tags.

[sonjay]

You're right, of course, Macguru.... I considered picking that particular nit (tag vs attribute), but but my answer was already quite pedantic enough for one post.

I suspect that "alt tag" is a battle that's going to be lost. Other attributes might be referred to properly, but alt tag is probably with us to stay.

[pageoneresults]

But alt tag is probably with us to stay.

Only if we let it stay! ;)

There are many here who will be quick to point out the errors in element classification. The alt attribute is one of those that is discussed here almost daily. And sure enough, as soon as someone calls it an alt tag, in comes the classification brigade (you might see me there). ;)

Another one that gets by is using the term title META tag when it is officially referred to as the title element.

P.S. By the way, what do you guys/gals on a Mac know about alt attributes? :P

[trebormojo]

they work fine on my mac, I always put them at the end:

<img src="home.gif" width="11" height="12" alt="home">

What IE are you having trouble with?