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List:       quanta
Subject:    [Quanta] Just use alt=""; don't forget it
From:       Richard Weait <richard () weait ! com>
Date:       2005-03-11 13:38:48
Message-ID: 1110548328.13828.26.camel () holden ! weait ! net
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Andras Mantia said:

> Putting only alt="" doesn't make sense. Yes, your documents will 
> validate, but if there is no real description there, it is not 
> different from not having the attribute specified at all.

I respectfully disagree that there is no difference.  Please see 
http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_21_ignoring_spacer_images.html for
an example of how missing alt="" breaks a page for Lynx and JAWS users.
In short, Lynx shows the file names, and JAWS reads them aloud.  

The rest of the http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ site provides
fictional stories of web site usability and the users that are aided by
well designed sites.

> I don't want to treat <img alt=""> differently from <foo 
> fooattr="">. 

I can understand that.  I do not know how to reconcile this with the
following.

Lars Behrens said:

> And even if Quanta doesn't want to add it it would be nice if it
> stayed in the tag after I put it in (alt="" is always removed when you
> edit the <img> tag via the dialog).

I second this.  I can agree that it is my obligation to make sure that
the alt tag is correct when I first place the img tag.  I must make my
alt tags meaningful for content, like alt="sunset at Laguna Beach" in
our image gallery. 

But alt="" is clearly correct and valid for non-content (eye-candy)
spacer images, while a missing alt tag is both invalid and inconvenient
to some users.  That Quanta will change valid markup to invalid markup
seems unusual.  That this change only hurts web site visitors who
already have too many inconveniences each day is just unfortunate.  

Cheers,
Richard

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