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Here is an example. There is a logo on a page for a company called Bloggs Inc. Which method below is the accurate one to use?
1)
<img... alt="Bloggs Inc logo" />2)
<img... alt="Bloggs Inc" />In the first method, I am describing the image. So users will know there's supposed to be a logo there. While in the second method I'm giving text that matches what the image has to say. (Assuming the logo isn't just a symbol but has the company name in it.)
Some browsers don't give borders around image spaces when they don't load, so you just see the ALT text. This gives the impression that the text is a normal part of the page. In which case the second method would be more suitable. But it's an area I need to clarify.
HTH
An alt attribute gives a short description of the image. The longdesc provides a URL for someone to follow if they are interested. Your alt attribute should provide enough information for them to decide whether they want to follow the link or not.
(1) The ALT text appears as a "tool tip" when you move the mouse cursor over the image.
(2) Some browsers display the ALT text instead of the image (in case graphics are turned off or if you use a text browser like Lynx)
(3) The ALT text is read aload by screen readers used by the visually impaired
Therefore I think ALT texts should be composed as to make sense in all of the above situations.
(1) The ALT text appears as a "tool tip" when you move the mouse cursor over the image.
For images that are links for site navigation, the alt text should represent what the link does. On a forum, the alt text would say "New Post", "Reply", and so on.
Hi, Hester,
I know, but since about 94% of the surfers are using IE (thecounter.com, August 2003 statistics) this seems like a relevant behavior of alt attributes to me. So, "only" is a bit relative here. :-)
As for the stats on thecounter.com, well, they don't quite talley with my stats. No-one really knows what percentage of people use what browser, how many aparent IE6 users are actually using Opera etc. Non-IE browsers are generally used by the "geekier" sort, which would not only on average spend more time on the internet anyway, but would also less likely to be visiting sites that use a remotely hosted stats program.
Also, thecounter.com's stats seem to be rather buggy --- they suggest that more people are using Solaris than Windows ME, which I find rather hard to believe.
The alt text should not pop up. Pop up text should come from a title attribute on an <a> anchor instead. That is the correct response that most modern browsers adhere to.
Since IE is by far the dominant modern browser, we should be aware that it does produce alt text in the form of pop-up tooltips. I disagree that this is the "correct response" as browsers such as Mozilla and Opera, who are more strict in their implementation of standards, do not follow IE's behaviour. They only produce a tooltip when the title attribute is used.
IE's tooltips are probably something someone at Redmond thought back in the 90s was a "cool" idea. Now IE is the main browser, we're stuck with this behaviour. Also a lot of people simply don't use the title attribute at all.
There is one trick I've found useful though. If you don't want the alt text to show up as a tooltip in IE, add
[b]title=""[/b]
This is only true in IE.
You can download a Firebird/Mozilla extension [extensionroom.mozdev.org] to get the same behaviour in those browsers.
Patrick
The problem is that many designers have used IE's tooltip alt text feature to create navigation elements! These obviously don't work in Mozilla. I once saw a site which was impossible to know where you could move to until you hovered over the links, where the tooltips revealed all.
I still see sites today that take it for granted that a tooltip will come up. Important information gets put in the alt text, yet it's missing for the default Mozilla user.
Is this one area where the competition should have bowed down and copied IE?
As far as I am aware I think Mozilla does it right and IE does it wrong. Since the majority of people use IE they tend to expect that whatever IE does is correct behaviour. Then when they test in other broswers if it does not perform the same way this is seen as "wrong".
Alt text should by default not appear. It should only appear for someone who has graphics switched off, so they can decide if it is worth downloading the image by reading the alt text.
If you want to use the tool tips for navigational elements you should use the title attribute instead. I use both title and alt, I think title is given preference, with alt text showing if the user has selected to turn off graphics.
While ALT should be used to describe what an image is, title should be an extension of what the item is. For example if you are linking to a "links" page, then the title should say something like "A directory of related links". Title on an image can basically say the same as alt text.
This is my opinons anyway!
