Re: What should the browser do

At 02:29 PM 21/04/98 -0500, Jon Gunderson wrote:
>What should the browser do if there is no alternative representation
>associated with an image, audio or object tag.

The HTML 4.0 Recommendation gives sensible guidelines for dealing with
missing ALT text on IMG at
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/notes.html#h-B.9>.

For APPLET and OBJECT elements with no content, I would suggest one of two
renderings depending on a user-selectable display mode:

1.  In the "Show all objects" display mode (the typical default on
graphical browsers), browsers should render some sort of icon (auditory or
visual or whatever) to indicate that an object is present.  The same icon
should also be used when there is alternative content and should indicate
the type of object--image, video, applet, etc.  In the absence of
alternative content, the algorithm given in the HTML 4.0 Recommendation for
dealing with missing ALT text should be used to provide a label for the icon.

2.  In the "Content Rules!" display mode (the typical default on Lynx),
browsers should render nothing.

>1. Should it display nothing, no information about what is not being
>rendering.

The user should have this option.

>2. Should the browser indicate that there is no alternative representation
>for information, like "no alt text available for image: filename" or a
>simplier "[image]".

As a user, I'd prefer "[filename]" (minus the extension), assuming that the
object has no TITLE attribute.  Graphical and aural browsers could replace
the brackets with some kind of icon.

--
Liam Quinn
Web Design Group            Enhanced Designs, Web Site Development
http://www.htmlhelp.com/    http://enhanced-designs.com/

Received on Tuesday, 21 April 1998 18:06:43 UTC