RE: nbsp ok for decorative alt?

> Michael said "why is " " not acceptable if " " is acceptable.  

My own personal prejudice is that alt=" " should only be allowed for spacer gifs aka shims.  If used consistently in this fashion, such a technique conveys more information than alt="" since the latter, when discovered, leads to the question of the thought behind using the null attribute.

Recommending CSS instead of alt=" " is not of much use since if the content developer is using shim gifs they are obviously a few years behind in their technical repertoire.

I am not clear on what allowing the non-breaking space as the only character in the alt attribute is suppose to signify.  I thought it was only an attempt to circumvent a real or perceived ban on using alt=" "?

I agree with John that it should not satisfy the SC1.1.1 requirement about decorative non text content.  But do we differentiate between the reasons for decorative non-text content?

I agree with Andrew that it would be best to avoid mention of the unnecessary technique at all.

Received on Monday, 10 April 2006 14:03:13 UTC