RE: ALT text survey

chuck...
thanks for the better explanation of alt text, but I think the original
>point still holds.  You wrote:
>
>> With IE3 and IE4, the bounding box of a image is expanded to include all
>>the
>> ALT text when "Show Images" is turned off and when the ScreenReaderPresent
>> flag is turned on by a screen reader.

LRK:: Thus people still run into this problem if their screen reader
doesn't turn on the flag.  Do all screen readers in use today turn on
this flag?  I think not, and as in interim practical measure it's
desirable to accommodate folks using those readers.

plus

sighted people who have images off just for speed would benefit from
seeing the alt text

plus

not everyone has IE.
>
>> With IE4.01, in addition to the conditions above, the feature can be
>> manually turned on from the "Always expand ALT text for images" option in
>> the Advanced tab of the Internet options dialog.

LRK:: that is a very good feature.

> 
>> <<It's not true that this must radically affect page layout.>>
>
>> It does affect page layout, regardless of borders, etc.  HEIGHT and WIDTH
>> determine how much space is allocated for the image before it's downloaded.
>> If it's not specified, then the text that flows around it will be
>> reformatted after the image is displayed.  This can cause unsightly
>>flashing
>> of the screen when there are a lot of images being downloaded and
>>displayed.

LRK::
Ah, I see the misunderstanding.  The our guidelines do not say to omit
height and width.  In fact, they absolutely require height and width.
What they suggest is to try to make the height and width large enough so
that the ALT text shows.   


Len

>
>All opinions expressed here are my own, not necessarily those of my employer.
>=============================================================
>kasday@att.com         phone 732 949 2693
>
>Leonard R. Kasday
>Room 1J-316A
>AT&T Laboratories
>101 Crawfords Corner Rd.
>Holmdel NJ 07733
>

Received on Wednesday, 11 February 1998 18:12:22 UTC