Re: COUGAR: ALT and <INPUT TYPE="IMAGE">

Peter Flynn <pflynn@curia.ucc.ie> wrote:
>>>Should there be an ALT attribute available on <INPUT TYPE="IMAGE"> so that
>>>the submit action involved can be conveyed when the image is not available?
>>
>>No.  Use VALUE, as you would for TYPE="submit".  It'll be ignored
>>by GUIs. 
>
>I think that's less than useful: I can easily see occasions where you
>want the value submitted to be a single character, but you'd like the
>explanatory string to be more evident for non-graphical users. 

	TYPE="image" is a "submit button" for which no content is
included if it does not have a NAME, just as for TYPE="submit".
In that case, the VALUE is "logically" the alternate text for a text
client (i.e., a GUI with image loading turned off, or a non-GUI).

	If the TYPE="image" *does* have a NAME, then *two* name=value
pairs are included in the content, with one value indicating the X
coordinate and the other the Y coordinate of a mouse click in the
image.  For a GUI with image loading turned off, and for a non-GUI,
it is MEANINGLESS MARKUP -- there's no image displayed, and thus there
can be no coordinates upon which the user "clicked".  In that case, if
no VALUE was present Lynx sends two name=value pairs as if the user
had clicked on the upper right corner of the unseen image.  If a VALUE
*is* present, Lynx sends one name=value pair with that value.  Scripts
thus can know that no informed choice was made within the image (if
they know that Lynx has this behavior 8-).  Currently deployed GUI
browsers with image loading turned off must reload the FORM with image
loading turned back on in order to do anything predictable.  Review
the specs -- it really is that nonsensical -- really (it was designed
by YouKnowWho for XMosaic v2.0).

	And the "scriplet" attributes for FORMs in the Cougar DTD look
like they are following in the same footsteps as TYPE="image".  Sigh...

				Fote

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 Foteos Macrides            Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research
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Received on Wednesday, 30 October 1996 19:06:08 UTC