- From: Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>
- Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:17:39 +0000 (UTC)
- To: Jan Richards <jan.richards@utoronto.ca>
- Cc: Al Gilman <Alfred.S.Gilman@IEEE.org>, Jim Jewett <jimjjewett@gmail.com>, W3C WAI-XTECH <wai-xtech@w3.org>, public html for all <list@html4all.org>, HTML WG <public-html@w3.org>
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008, Jan Richards wrote: > > I like how your message cuts to the point. > > If I may, I would like to replace "is important" with "CONVEYS > INFORMATION", as in: > > (1) Image DOES NOT CONVEY INFORMATION, alternative text is available. (alt="") > (2) Image CONVEYS INFORMATION, alternative text is available. (alt="...") > > Now, in my opinion, a missing "alt" attribute actually represents: > > (3-REWORDED) Image MAY OR MAY NOT CONVEY INFORMATION and alternative > text is not available. The case of "image does not convey information and alternative text is not available" is non-conforming according to the current spec. I was only listing the conforming cases. > Now, I think there is a fourth state that I see use in representing: > > (4-NEW) A tool (CMS, etc.) knows that the image CONVEYS INFORMATION (e.g. > someone uploaded it from their camera, so it's probably not a blank > placeholder), but alternative text is not available. That's what I meant by case 3. > That said, I'm not sure how (4) should be represented (e.g., some have > suggested something like alt="_none"). In the current spec, omitting alt="" altogether is how you represent this case. Note that we are only talking about conforming documents. In non-conforming documents, all bets are off -- authors could say alt="_none" for decorative images, alt="" for images that convey critical information, alt="Save" for buttons that actually delete data, who knows. -- Ian Hickson U+1047E )\._.,--....,'``. fL http://ln.hixie.ch/ U+263A /, _.. \ _\ ;`._ ,. Things that are impossible just take longer. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'
Received on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 21:18:25 UTC