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Thread: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Victoria Hamill
Date: Tue, Dec 02 2003 5:02AM
Subject: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
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Hi,
I'm a bit uncertain over what to do about the use of ALT tags on images
when catering for Mac users. I'm not sure why, but ALT tags don't show up
on the Mac - is this normal or am I likely to have got something wrong?
The alternative is to use TITLE tags, as they do work, but I'm not sure
about the impact of doing that in terms of screen readers and so on. I
tried having an ALT tag and a TITLE tag just to see what happened, and the
TITLE tag over-wrote the ALT tag.
What is the correct way of using ALT tags? This seems a pretty banal
question, as in theory alt tags are not complicated!
All the literature I've read around accessibility talks about ALT tags and
Long Descriptions, so I suspect it would not be right to replace them with
TITLEs, so how do other people get around the Mac issue??
Thanks
Victoria
-----------------------------------------------------
Victoria Hamill
NetInfo
Phone: (44) 1628-687863
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
URL: http://www.netinfo.com
- More than meets the eye
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From: Karl Groves
Date: Tue, Dec 02 2003 5:07AM
Subject: RE: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
← Previous message | Next message →
It seems that you're looking at using ALT for a tooltip, which is one of the
things that MS IE does.
ALT attributes are intended to serve as alternative text, not as a tool tip,
and AFAIK all browsers support the attribute just as they should.
There is no Mac issue with ALT
-Karl
-----Original Message-----
From: Victoria Hamill [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 6:57 AM
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
Hi,
I'm a bit uncertain over what to do about the use of ALT tags on images
when catering for Mac users. I'm not sure why, but ALT tags don't show up
on the Mac - is this normal or am I likely to have got something wrong?
The alternative is to use TITLE tags, as they do work, but I'm not sure
about the impact of doing that in terms of screen readers and so on. I
tried having an ALT tag and a TITLE tag just to see what happened, and the
TITLE tag over-wrote the ALT tag.
What is the correct way of using ALT tags? This seems a pretty banal
question, as in theory alt tags are not complicated!
All the literature I've read around accessibility talks about ALT tags and
Long Descriptions, so I suspect it would not be right to replace them with
TITLEs, so how do other people get around the Mac issue??
Thanks
Victoria
-----------------------------------------------------
Victoria Hamill
NetInfo
Phone: (44) 1628-687863
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
URL: http://www.netinfo.com
- More than meets the eye
----
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visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
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From: Victoria Hamill
Date: Tue, Dec 02 2003 5:55AM
Subject: RE: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
← Previous message | Next message →
It's hard sometimes to distinguish between a symptom of something, e.g. ALT
tags cause tooltips, and the actual purpose of the function, e.g. ALT tags
provide some alternative text for users who cannot see the image. Hence my
confusion.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Victoria
-----------------------------------------------------
Victoria Hamill
NetInfo
Phone: (44) 1628-687863
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
URL: http://www.netinfo.com
- More than meets the eye
"Karl Groves"
<webmaster@theoryx To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >, < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
design.com> cc:
Fax to:
02/12/2003 12:08 Subject: RE: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
Please respond to
webaim-forum
It seems that you're looking at using ALT for a tooltip, which is one of
the
things that MS IE does.
ALT attributes are intended to serve as alternative text, not as a tool
tip,
and AFAIK all browsers support the attribute just as they should.
There is no Mac issue with ALT
-Karl
-----Original Message-----
From: Victoria Hamill [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 6:57 AM
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Subject: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
Hi,
I'm a bit uncertain over what to do about the use of ALT tags on images
when catering for Mac users. I'm not sure why, but ALT tags don't show up
on the Mac - is this normal or am I likely to have got something wrong?
The alternative is to use TITLE tags, as they do work, but I'm not sure
about the impact of doing that in terms of screen readers and so on. I
tried having an ALT tag and a TITLE tag just to see what happened, and the
TITLE tag over-wrote the ALT tag.
What is the correct way of using ALT tags? This seems a pretty banal
question, as in theory alt tags are not complicated!
All the literature I've read around accessibility talks about ALT tags and
Long Descriptions, so I suspect it would not be right to replace them with
TITLEs, so how do other people get around the Mac issue??
Thanks
Victoria
-----------------------------------------------------
Victoria Hamill
NetInfo
Phone: (44) 1628-687863
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
URL: http://www.netinfo.com
- More than meets the eye
----
To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
----
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visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
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From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Tue, Dec 02 2003 10:05AM
Subject: RE: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
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The rendering of ALT text information is dependent on the browser you are
using, not the operating system. There are also more than one way a
browser can render alt text. The typical way is as a substitution for the
image when images are turned off. This has side issues, like what does the
browser do when the ALT text doesn't fit into the graphical real estate of
the image, many browser just clip the ALT text to fit in the original
window. Some browsers like IE will generate a "tooltip" when the user
hovers over an image. More potential techniques on the rendering of ALT
text can be found at:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/NOTE-UAAG10-TECHS-20021217/guidelines.html#tech-conditional-content
Jon
At 07:08 AM 12/2/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>It seems that you're looking at using ALT for a tooltip, which is one of the
>things that MS IE does.
>ALT attributes are intended to serve as alternative text, not as a tool tip,
>and AFAIK all browsers support the attribute just as they should.
>There is no Mac issue with ALT
>
>-Karl
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Victoria Hamill [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
>Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 6:57 AM
>To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>Subject: ALT tags vs TITLE tags
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Hi,
>
>I'm a bit uncertain over what to do about the use of ALT tags on images
>when catering for Mac users. I'm not sure why, but ALT tags don't show up
>on the Mac - is this normal or am I likely to have got something wrong?
>
>The alternative is to use TITLE tags, as they do work, but I'm not sure
>about the impact of doing that in terms of screen readers and so on. I
>tried having an ALT tag and a TITLE tag just to see what happened, and the
>TITLE tag over-wrote the ALT tag.
>
>What is the correct way of using ALT tags? This seems a pretty banal
>question, as in theory alt tags are not complicated!
>All the literature I've read around accessibility talks about ALT tags and
>Long Descriptions, so I suspect it would not be right to replace them with
>TITLEs, so how do other people get around the Mac issue??
>
>Thanks
>
>Victoria
>-----------------------------------------------------
>Victoria Hamill
>NetInfo
>Phone: (44) 1628-687863
>Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>URL: http://www.netinfo.com
> - More than meets the eye
>
>
>----
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
>visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>
>
>
>----
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, suspend, or view list archives,
>visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820
Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund
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