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Alt Tag [sic] Pedantry

for

From: Kynn Bartlett
Date: Feb 16, 2006 10:00AM

On 2/16/06, Karl Groves < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > Someone else is bound to mention it if I don't: there's no
> > such thing as an 'alt tag' :) There's an alt *attribute* of
> > the img tag; no more, no less.
>
> You beat me to it!
> Element: i.e. <img />
> Attribute: i.e. alt=""
> Tag: The element with its attributes

I think that eventually someone needs to recognize that while semantic
accuracy is important, actually adding alt text is more important than
jumping on someone's ass for using slang. (And that's what "alt tag"
is -- web developer slang. And it's harmless.)

If a web developer is going to dilligently add alt text [*] to her
creations, I don't give a damn what slang term she wants to use.

--Kynn

[*] I prefer the term "alt text" to "alt attribute", as there are
actually many ways to add text alternatives in HTML, not just with a
single attribute.