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Re: Alt Tag [sic] Pedantry

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From: Kynn Bartlett
Date: Feb 16, 2006 10:45AM

On 2/16/06, Karl Groves < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Nobody was jumping on anyone else's ass. Although it was not exactly what
> the OP was looking for, the clarification of the nomenclature was, at least
> in my case, intended to *help* the OP.
>
> I think helping people is more important than "jumping on someone's ass" for
> trying to provide said help.

I'm missing the exchange where the original poster asked for help in
figuring out what to call the alt text in behind-the-scenes technology
discussions on a mailing list, as opposed to figuring out what to call
the HTML and Flash versions.

Instead, I saw at least two posts which were devoted to the extremely
anal retentive sport of noting "IT'S NOT ALT TAG!" as if that really
matters, given that the designer in question has specifically stated
that he would be providing alternative text, and what's more, is
making a non-Flash alternative as well.

I think it's safe to assume that the original poster is, indeed,
familiar with the basics of accessibility and doesn't need a lecture
on tags versus attributes right now.

This pedantry is an example of geek-style of interaction which favors
insignificants GOTCHA!s over actual assistance. The point of nailing
someone's usage of slang [*] is to show off your own elite (1337)
knowledge of pedantic hairsplitting. It's pointless and it's part of
the reason that web accessibility activists come off as crass
nitpickers. Even on accessibility mailing lists.

Another example is people who have been convinced that "click here" is
somehow destructive to the web. No, that's slang again, and yes, we
know full well that not all everyone uses a mouse -- but how many
blind, keyboard-using web users have actually sat there and gone "gosh
it says to click here, but I can't click, WHAT DO I DO??"

Get over the slang, and get over the gotcha!s.

--Kynn

[*] Once again, I emphasize that "alt tag" is not a statement claiming
that there is an HTML element called "alt", but rather commonly used
slang in web design. For fun, google "alt tag" versus "alt attribute"
versus "alt text." Were you surprised at which one is more popular?
Note that only one is officially defined in spec; only one exists by
the standard -- and it's the least popular.