Re: screen readers for macs - also bobby question

There are, of course graphics, that are used as "spacers."  This may no be "good
design" but it is done all the time.  It seems to legitmate to recommend that the
alt tag for these be [alt=" "] rather than [alt="space"]... Bill

Access Systems wrote:

> On Sat, 8 Mar 2003, David Woolley wrote:
>
> > > example 2: for purely decorative images it has become
> > > general practise to use empty alt attributes.  that is
> > > just to satisfy bobby and wai.  how is that more
> > > accessible than a missing alt attribute?
> >
> > A missing alt makes the HTML invalid.  I think the idea was that requiring
> > the attribute would make people think about it, but, of course, people just
>
> and if you are using text, you never know wheather it is "just for
> pretty" or critical information...I think EVERY piece of graphic no matter
> how unimportant the writer thinks it is (well it must be important he
> coded it) it should be left to the reader to decide if it is
> valuable. even if the alt tag is "pretty curlicues" it should be there.  I
> don't think any alt should ever be empty for any reason if it displays for
> any user the information should be there for every user.
>
> Bob
>
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William P. LaPlant, Jr.  |  4312 Birchlake Court; Alexandria, VA 22309-1208
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