- From: Jo Miller <jo@bendingline.com>
- Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 15:31:30 -0400
- To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
At 14:52 -0500 8/15/01, Michelle Podd wrote: >Hello, >Can anyone tell me the purpose for using empty alt tags for unessential >images like spacer gifs? At 15:11 -0400 8/15/01, Fitzgerald, Jimmie wrote: >But, is there a reason to use an empty alt tag of "" as opposed to simply omitting the alt tag alltogether? Michelle and Jimmie, Empty ALT attributes allow screen readers and text-only browsers to ignore the images rather than reading out (or showing) the images' filenames. Here's an example of how part of a page with no ALT attributes displays in Lynx: ----- Begin example. [header_home.gif] __________ [spacer.gif] [search.gif]-Submit [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] About Our Company [spacer.gif] Our Project [spacer.gif] Funding Opportunities [spacer.gif] Education [spacer.gif] Apply [spacer.gif] Newsroom [spacer.gif] Research [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [USEMAP:email_or_print.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] ----- End example. With appropriate ALT attributes for the images that convey information, and empty ALT attributes for spacer gifs, the page might be rendered as follows: ----- Begin example. Home __________ Search Submit About Our Company Our Project Funding Opportunities Education Apply Newsroom Research Email this page Print this page ---- End example. Omitting ALT attributes altogether is not valid HTML, in any case. -- Jo Miller jo@bendingline.com
Received on Wednesday, 15 August 2001 15:32:26 UTC