What to put in a img alt attribute when in a table?

[Wertigon]

Okay, the situation is like this, I have a table with pictures in one column, pretty much like this:

<table>
<tr>
<th>Image</th>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Price (USD)</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="images/flowers.gif" alt="Flowers"></td>
<td>Flowers</td>
<td>0.20/piece</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="vase.gif" alt="Vase"></td>
<td>Vase</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
</table>

Now, I'm wondering over what I should do about alt attributes? The images are only helpful here if I actually can see them. A screen reader would, if I did it like this, read it like "flowers flowers". And a text browser would display the same information twice as well, which isn't exactly what I'd consider pretty. Should I just leave them blank, or write "Image of [name]", or something else entirerly?

Thanks
//Wertigon

[hartlandcat]

For some images, alternative text is not necessary, or (as in your case) desirable. If the only reason you're adding the alt attribute to these images is so that your page still validates, then you can put it like this:

<img src="graphic.gif" alt="">

[D_Blackwell]

I handle a number of product pages where I've gone with alt="" to validate. (Probably asked that question here myself.) I'm still willing to give descriptions if they really help for accessability -- but only if I can find a snippet of code that will turn off that alt toolbar in IE. I've got one for the "imagetoolbar" but am still on the hunt for this one. There has to be one.