Re: ToolTips: bug or feature?

On 7/29/07 5:11 PM, "David Poehlman" <poehlman1@comcast.net> wrote:

> 
> we'd do better to have a tooltip attribute and handle alt and title in
> better ways.  Alt and title have been confused as tooltips thus have done
> poorly over all.
> 

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.4.3
title = text [CS]
    This attribute offers advisory information about the element for which
it is set.
...
Values of the title attribute may be rendered by user agents in a variety of
ways. For instance, visual browsers frequently display the title as a "tool
tip" (a short message that appears when the pointing device pauses over an
object). Audio user agents may speak the title information in a similar
context. For example, setting the attribute on a link allows user agents
(visual and non-visual) to tell users about the nature of the linked
resource:


Seems to me that title is tool tip and alt is alternative text for <img>.
We all should know by now that alt being displayed as a tooltip in IE is a
mistake on their part. I wouldn't mind 'title' being renamed 'tooltip'.