Re: Dave Raggett: Re: IMG ALT attribute in HTML 4.0 (fwd)

At 03:05 PM 9/11/97 -0400, Al Gilman wrote:
>to follow up on what Mike Paciello said:
>
>> I am inclined to support Dave's point; it's more or less a case of "what
>> harm will it do" -- none. It provides an immediate solution to current (and
>> older) browsers, it certainly provides a reasonable solution to the
>> eventual OBJECT transition. Couger will be out on the streets very soon and
>> my understanding is that several browers are still heavily involved in
>> development.
>> 
>
>It's not so free as that.  The cost of LONGDESC is training and
>the risk of LONGDESC is if we turn around and obsolete it soon we
>lose credibility with the author community.
>
>I don't yet see what a new LONGDESC attribute would do for users
>of current and older browsers that don't process it.  The
>immediate solution that works with legacy browsers is an
>always-visible link created with the existing Anchor element.  It
>means you have to change pages to read the description -- this
>can get one lost -- but it does what it does with the browsers
>our customers have now.
>
>There are two questions I don't think we have answered fully yet,
>and to the extent that we can answer them better before the
>November meeting I think we should try to:
>
>	- Is this the best solution we can get from 4.0?
>
>	- Does this build progressively toward the long-term
>		solution, or will we want to backtrack later?
>
>On the other hand, I fear we have bigger fish to fry.  I was
>talking to Daniel today and he said he would put together a
>workplan for the Cougar Review action item so we can prioritize
>and structure our work a little.

As always, there are several things to consider and this cleary warrants a
discussion by the working group. I have a vested interest in how this works
out; guess I'll have to commit, if you have enough room for me Al.

I definately agree that a workplan is the necessary evil.

Regards,

Mike



-------------------------
Michael G. Paciello                      Executive Director, 
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Received on Thursday, 11 September 1997 15:36:03 UTC