Re: One more thought about requiring the alt to add to the pile

>My point was that quantitative data about the magnitude of different
phenomena around alt and >how they average out is something we don't
have.

Agreed, and that is why I am remain unconvinced of the correctness of
the theory that "requiring alt = bad". there is simply no publically
available body of evidence that supports this theory.

regards
steve


On 20/04/2008, Henri Sivonen <hsivonen@iki.fi> wrote:
> On Apr 20, 2008, at 12:25, Steven Faulkner wrote:
>
>
> >
> > > There has now been a decade-long experiment with making alt a syntax
> > > requirement. I think this experiment shows that doing so has the
> downside of
> > > inducing bogus alt. When validation has downsides, as a validator
> developer,
> > > I want to work to remove the downsides.
> > >
> >
> > Where is the empirical data to support your assumptions? All we
> > currently have on both sides is anecdote and conviction.
> >
>
>
>  All I have is unwritten anecdotal data that convinces me of the *existence*
> of the phenomenon to a non-trivial extent (from observing tool output, from
> observing what others say when they discuss things and from observing that
> my own thoughts when writing tools or markup parallel what I observe others
> to say or do). It also seems to me that the phenomenon of people writing
> good alt text because a validator reminded them *exists*.
>
>  My point was that quantitative data about the magnitude of different
> phenomena around alt and how they average out is something we don't have.
>
>  --
>  Henri Sivonen
>  hsivonen@iki.fi
>  http://hsivonen.iki.fi/
>
>
>


-- 
with regards

Steve Faulkner
Technical Director - TPG Europe
Director - Web Accessibility Tools Consortium

www.paciellogroup.com | www.wat-c.org
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Received on Sunday, 20 April 2008 10:23:43 UTC