Content of OBJECT element

On Fri, 27 Mar 1998, Mike Paciello wrote:

> While we're at it, can someone please explain to me why the syntax for the
> OBJECT tag that includes an image, specifies the ALT text of that image
> without the ALT attribute? (Or at least, that's how the 4.0 spec describes
> it). Seems to be an inconsistent use of syntax.

Actually, this is the great advantage of the OBJECT element: it allows
block-level content to be included as an alternative to the resource which
it designates. The content of the ALT attribute, if one may use this
expression in a non-technical sense, can consist only of text characters
and must in practice be relatively short. Thus, the alternative to the
graphical resource given in the OBJECT element may range from a brief
label to an entire description, complete with markup, links to other
resources (as are particularly important in the case of an image map),
etc. Thus, far from being an inconsistency, I would describe the content
model of OBJECT as a substantial and positive innovation, which will do
much to further the development of accessible HTML documents which are
equally appealing in visual and non-visual media.

Received on Monday, 30 March 1998 02:56:57 UTC