Alt is not a decription (was Re: when to use longdesc for images)

On Tue, Dec 21, 2004 at 07:01:35AM -0500, Matthew J. Giustino wrote:
>    I would also like to add that you also have the "alt" attribute (alt;
>    Defines a short description of the image)\001 available to you.

No, alt provides a replacement for the image, not a description. Using
a description leads to delightful webpages like
http://www.btplc.com/age_disability/ (picked on becuase it was the
first bad example I could find) which has:

  BT Logo - link to bt.com

* Does it really matter that its a logo?

* It has an <a> around it, the browser knows its a link and can tell
the user.

* Where else is something labeled "BT" likely to link? And if there is
somewhere, then why not include that information for people who can
see the image?

-- 
David Dorward                                      http://dorward.me.uk