- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 14:41:58 -0400 (EDT)
- To: Steve Vosloo <stevenvosloo@yahoo.com>
- cc: "'WAI IG'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Two reasons people do this. One is to have a space if the image might otherwise be between two words that get run together. Another is to fool screen readers that try to be smarter than authors - there are systems that, if they find a blank alt, will provide the file name, but will ignore the space. The endless sequence of file names (which the blank alt tries to avoid) is annoying... Cheers Chaals On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, Steve Vosloo wrote: > >Slightly on a different topic: does anyone know why a space is often >recommended for the ALT tag of a transparent GIF? > ><IMG SRC="blank.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" ALT=" "> > >Since the blank ALT is there to make the screen reader skip over the >image, why is a space necessary as well? > >Thanks >Steve > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Charles McCathieNevile [mailto:charles@w3.org] >Sent: 23 July 2002 04:09 PM >To: Simon White >Cc: Steve Vosloo; WAI IG >Subject: RE: Invisible "Skip navigation" link > > >Spaces are usually there to provide appropriate presentation - ensure >that the last word of a text alternative isn't run together with the >first word following - this makes it easier to read, or understand when >spoken by a screen reader. > >Thanks to Simon for having some history available for the repeats of >discussion. > >cheers > >Chaals > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Steve Vosloo [mailto:stevenvosloo@yahoo.com] >>Sent: 23 July 2002 14:32 >>To: WAI IG >>Subject: Invisible "Skip navigation" link >> >> >> >>What is the best way to code an invisible Skip Nav link? >> >><a href="#content"> >> <img src="spacer.gif" alt="Skip navigation." width="1" height="1" >>border="0"> </A> >> >>Does the <A> need a title with "Skip navigation." link too? >> >> >>And while I'm here, does anyone know why many examples for accessible >>links provide a space after a description? And around an "=" sign, e.g. >> >><a href="#content" accesskey="2" title="Skip Navigation. Access key = >>2. "> >> Skip Navigation >></a> >> > > -- Charles McCathieNevile http://www.w3.org/People/Charles phone: +61 409 134 136 W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI fax: +33 4 92 38 78 22 Location: 21 Mitchell street FOOTSCRAY Vic 3011, Australia (or W3C INRIA, Route des Lucioles, BP 93, 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France)
Received on Tuesday, 23 July 2002 14:41:59 UTC