Re: heuristic tests not in guidelines

I think this could actually be an algorithm and not a heuristic.

Bobby would merely (!) have to check that the HREF'd item is available
via text that is part of the link or elsewhere by an IMG that includes
ALT text or client side image map.

> LRK:: I like that heuristic, but I think it needs to be a warning, not
> absolutely illegal.  What if you have both an decorative icon and text that
> are part of the same link.  For example
> 
> <A href="index.html">
>    <IMG SRC="cutsie_doodad.gif" ALT=" ">
>    Home.
> </A>

The above is absolutely fine and need not even generate a warning.

> Of course, if ALT=" " is the only thing inside a link then I'd agree that
> it would be illegal.

The above should be okay iff the link is available (accessibly)
elsewhere on the page.

I believe ALT=" " will get you something you can tab to at least (with
Lynx and MS IE) where ALT="" does not.  With Lynx if all the links are
hidden, you get a warning screen.  If there is just one accessible link,
that screen will not come up.  (Of course, there is a command to list
all links on a page, and this allows one to get at all hidden links, but
one might not think to check this if there are some accessible links.)

Received on Wednesday, 28 October 1998 10:45:52 UTC