Is Flickr an Edge Case? (was Re: HTML Action Item 54)

On May 23, 2008, at 3:56 PM, Matt Morgan-May wrote:

>
> On 5/22/08 10:33 AM, "Andrew Sidwell" <w3c@andrewsidwell.co.uk> wrote:
>>> Well then, making @alt optional in the edge case of Flickr or an  
>>> inkblot
>>> test is then moot.  Those edge cases will remain non-conformant,  
>>> and @alt as
>>> a mandatory requirement is a sealed deal, as optimising for edge  
>>> cases is
>>> not a reasonable thing to do.
>>
>> Flickr is hardly an edge case.
>
> On the contrary: Flickr is the _ultimate_ edge case.

Flickr is an extremely popular site with millions of web pages. Look  
at the Alexa Global Top 500:

http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global&lang=none

I see the following obvious photo sharing sites:

#26 Photobucket
#34 ImageShack
#39 Flickr
#57 Fotolog
#59 ImageVenue
#84 Metroflog
#100 wretch.cc

And the following social networks with photo galler features:

#6 Myspace
#8 FaceBook
#11 Orkut
#40 Friendster
#56 LiveJournal

Clearly photo sharing is one of the most popular activities on the  
web. It is not an edge case but rather a major use case that should be  
given significant consideration.

Regards,
Maciej