alt tag

[nn]

A few days ago I discovered that, when I place the arrow on an image, that
the alt text (describing what you see for those who do not want to load
images) does not appear any more.
Neither does the window with the save as, larger, smaller, etc function
(which also appears when you place the arrow on an image).

I have reset my computer to 2 weeks ago when everything was still fine, but
it has not helped.
I suppose it is something very simple, but I can't find the way to solve it.

I have windows XP, MS office 2003 and work with Avant Browser.

I asked in a Dutch newsgroup but received just one reply which did not solve
the problem.

Perhaps anyone out here has some idea to how to solve the problem.

TIA


Nolly

 

[David Dorward]

nn wrote:

Alt is an _attribute_, not a tag.

A few days ago I discovered that, when I place the arrow on an image, that
the alt text (describing what you see for those who do not want to load
images) does not appear any more.

Most browsers don't display alt text when the mouse is pointing at images.
The purpose of alt text is to be displayed *instead* of the image if it
can't be displayed.

IE is about the only exception.

Neither does the window with the save as, larger, smaller, etc function
(which also appears when you place the arrow on an image).

Also an IE specific feature. It can be disabled by web authors through the
use of meta data, or a (non-standard and proprietary) attribute on the
image. I believe the browser has a preference to turn it off too.

IE7 betas might change the state of play here, I haven't looked.

 

[nn]

Alt is an _attribute_, not a tag.
* Thank you David for correcting me, you are right.

Most browsers don't display alt text when the mouse is pointing at images.
The purpose of alt text is to be displayed *instead* of the image if it
can't be displayed.

IE is about the only exception.

* It has worked fine until a few days ago.

Also an IE specific feature. It can be disabled by web authors through the
use of meta data, or a (non-standard and proprietary) attribute on the
image.

* I use the ALT attribute on my own website, so I know it should be
displayed. Others still see the Alt text.

I believe the browser has a preference to turn it off too.
* It might be that it somehow was turned off but then my next question is:
do you happen to know where I can turn it on again?

Nolly

 

[Stan McCann]

I believe the browser has a preference to turn it off too.
* It might be that it somehow was turned off but then my next
question is: do you happen to know where I can turn it on again?

Using alt is incorrect for what you want. Use title instead.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

But even IE doesn't do that when there is a title attribute
present.[1]

* It has worked fine until a few days ago.

The WAI would disagree with you. Doing what you previously expected
was *not* "working fine", but could be rated as misbehaviour.

* I use the ALT attribute on my own website, so I know it should be
displayed. Others still see the Alt text.

If this is about pages that you're authoring yourself: just use the
title attribute as it's intended, and stop worrying about it, IMHO.

Naturally you should be choosing appropriate (i.e usually different)
texts for the two. If you're presently hoping for the alt text to
appear as a pop-up, I'd dare to predict that you'd be choosing an
inappropriate text for the alt text's *intended* purpose. If I'm
wrong in your case, then you'd be an exception to some general rule,
IMHO.

[1] IE's alt text misbehaviour can be suppressed by supplying
title="", if no other title is wanted. At least, it did when I tried
it (normally I wouldn't use IE instead of a real web browser - but one
does have to check these things now and again... no, I haven't
sampled IE7 beta.)

 

[kchayka]

* It has worked fine until a few days ago.

When was your last Windows Update? Updates have been known to do
unexpected things.

Regardless, sounds like your query really belongs in some Microsoft
newsgroup. It doesn't seem likely the cause is anything related to the
web page itself, especially since they are your own pages.