Re: Alt has to be short ...

You might want to ask on a french-language list :-) I am pretty sure 
that only a small minority of people here are sufficiently expert in 
french to answer the question for that language. On the other hand 
there is a principle that doesn't depend on language - should there be 
a limit?

Actually, I think that more than a few words is one reason to check the 
text, but I don't think there is a strict rule. In some cases a picture 
really does convey a thousand words, or at least 40 - 50, and a long 
alt text will make sense. I know that old versions of Amaya had a bug 
that limited alt attributes to about 32 characters, but I think it is 
the only browser that had that problem, and there is no limitation 
according to any specification I know of.

So I don't think it makes sense to suggest that any alt text fails 
because it is more than some arbitrary length. But it is a useful hint 
that maybe the text isn't conveying the right information.

cheers

Chaals

On Wednesday, Dec 17, 2003, at 03:08 Australia/Melbourne, yoan SIMONIAN 
wrote:

> Vey good remark, i never think about that.
> So i make a precision, our recommendation are for french language. ;o)
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] De 
> la part
> de Marjolein Katsma
> Envoyé : mardi 16 décembre 2003 16:59
> À : w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Objet : RE: Alt has to be short ...
>
>
> I think both number of characters and number of words needed for a 
> "short"
> but meaningful text will be highly dependent on language. Any rule, 
> rule of
> thumb, or guideline mentioning a number like that would also have to 
> specify
> which language it refers to.
>
--
Charles McCathieNevile                          Fundación Sidar
charles@sidar.org                                http://www.sidar.org

Received on Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:53:21 UTC