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Re: Alt Tag [sic] Pedantry

for

From: Kynn Bartlett
Date: Feb 16, 2006 2:40PM

On 2/16/06, Karl Groves < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > 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.

> Certainly you don't intend to argue that the public's misuse of terminology
> is evidence that it is correct practice!

I'm using it to argue that slang usage on a mailing list is unimportant.

Do you really think that the original poster was going to sit there,
editing program open, and type in <alt>Home Page</alt>?

No, you know damn well that he was going to do:
<img src="homebutton.gif" alt="Home Page"/>

Yet two -- two! -- people replied commenting on the use of "alt tag".
This is pedantly and unhelpful, especially when someone has clearly
indicated he is _going to the do the right thing_.

It's the most pettyminded form of accessibility that you're promoting
here. If people want to call it "alt tags" but still remember to
properly tag their images with alternative text, I am thrilled.

You may say I was the one spoiling for a fight, sure, but I didn't
post merely to "correct" someone's use of slang. I posted about what
I see as a real problem in the acceptance of accessibility: A
closeminded, literalist insistence that anyone using "politically
incorrect" [*] terminology be publicly chastised.

--Kynn

[*] As someone who despises the anti-PC movement (i.e. "to show how
NON-politically correct I am, I'm going to bash on women, minorities,
gays, PWDs!"), I don't use this term lightly. I think there is a lot
of emphasis in the web accessibility community on "gotcha!s" and
nitpicking, and that turns people off who are looking for help. You
don't have to lecture someone about their use of slang every time they
ask for help and don't use the same words you'd use.