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Re: GL's interpretation of null alt-text

From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 18:32:40 -0500 (EST)
To: Al Gilman <asgilman@iamdigex.net>
cc: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.20.9911101830390.28652-100000@tux.w3.org>
I agree with you that there is no particular problem in using &nbsp;, except
that you don't know how it will be rendered. The specification explicitly
says leading/trailing whitespace in attributes will be ignored, so relying on
it breaks even the "be strict in what you send but tolerant in what you
accept" model.

Charles McCN

On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Al Gilman wrote:

[snip]  
  To recap in brief,
  
  What user agents ignore the space character in ALT=" "?  What do they do?
  
  What access impairment is caused by the use of ALT="&nbsp;" on a spacer
  image used inline between otherwise un-separated text content?  How should
  one mark this up otherwise if not ALT=" "?
  
  Unless someone can answer those questions better, 
  I would like to dissent on points 1. and 2.
  
  Al
  
Received on Wednesday, 10 November 1999 18:32:41 GMT

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