Re: spaces and alt-text. proposal for the ERT.

Wendy,

>3b. If the image is purely decorative and has no meaning to the content of
>?the page, advise them to provide a brief descriptive text and suggest
that
>they may also want to link to a longer description of the image with the
>"longdesc" attribute.

seems to conflict with

>3d.  If the author indicates the image has a function, advise the author
to
>provide a functional text equivalent and if necessary link to a longer
>description.

Why would we encourage "longdesc" for images that are purely decorative and
have no meaning?
I would move 3b to the end of the ordered list.  After checking if it's
part of a link, or used for spacing or formatting, then finally if it's
just a "purely decorative" image, then shouldn't alt="" be O.K.?  For
example, I have a image of a LOGO several places on a page purely for
visual effect, but don't want to "clutter up" the audio by having it
rendered every time in-line with the HTML, I the author may choose to turn
off the audio by using the alt="" on the redundant images.  What I do with
my eyes, skip over and ignore the purely decorative images, can only be
supported by the screen reader by me the author using alt="".  The user can
always get the source HTML file and review the image file used if curious,
but brief description and longer description should not be encouraged for
redundant decorative images.


Regards,
Phill Jenkins,

Received on Monday, 6 December 1999 18:51:05 UTC