alt options

Hmm, options discussed so far (with arguments judged by me):

   <img src=001>
   ++ Authoring.
   -  alt can have been omitted for the wrong reasons currently.
   -  Not compatible with current JAWS
   -  Makes automated conformance checking harder.

   <img src=001 alt>
   +  Authoring
   -+ empty string can have been used for the wrong reasons already.
   -+ What to do when authors omit alt?
   -  Overloads empty string value.
   -  Not compatible with current JAWS

   <img src=001 alt=magic-string>
   -+ Somewhat compatible with JAWS (image can be discovered).
   -+ What to do when authors omit alt?
   -  Overloads alt value with a "random string"
   -  Authoring becomes confusing.

   <img src=001 alt=content noalt>
   +  Authoring is ok.
   +  Makes automated conformance checking better.
   -+ alt= can be used to specify a string for older UAs.

Not really sure what's better. I'm not sure it matters much either given  
the current state of ATs and the expected date of arrival of HTML5. I  
think my money is with the image analyzer tools.


-- 
Anne van Kesteren
<http://annevankesteren.nl/>
<http://www.opera.com/>