- From: Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis <bhawkeslewis@googlemail.com>
- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 23:54:55 +0100
Maciej Stachowiak wrote: > How about: > > <img src="gallery2.jpg" alt=""> -- image could be omitted without > changing the meaning of the document (screen readers or text-only > browsers could just skip it) > <img src="gallery2.jpg" noalt> -- image cannot be omitted without > changing the meaning, but no text equivalent is available (screen > readers or text-only browsers / mail clients should give some indication > that an image is there) > > I'm not sure I like that better than just omitting alt entirely, but I > thought I'd throw it out there. When screen readers find img without alt, there typically attempt to fake alternative text using the src attribute. This can be done crudely (just reading the whole path) or selectively (just reading the filename, e.g. gallery2.jpg). Since authors will continue to fail to provide alternative text, screen readers are likely to continue employing such heuristics, defeating any attempt to attach a special new meaning to missing alt attributes. If images without alt are to be allowed, then noalt would be a reasonable hint. -- Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
Received on Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:54:55 UTC