S
Suzanne Knapp
Is it ok to use both alt and title attributes in an <img> tag (so all
browsers will honor at least one of them)?
browsers will honor at least one of them)?
D
Dylan Parry
Using a pointed stick and pebbles, Suzanne Knapp scraped:
Yes, it is fine. In fact you *should* be using alt attributes for all
your images. With regards support, I don't know of any browsers that
*don't* support the alt attribute, but I think that Netscape 4 didn't
support title attributes.
Internet Explorer will use the alt attribute as a tooltip, which is
wrong, but will use the title attribute in preference if it is present.
Yes, it is fine. In fact you *should* be using alt attributes for all
your images. With regards support, I don't know of any browsers that
*don't* support the alt attribute, but I think that Netscape 4 didn't
support title attributes.
Internet Explorer will use the alt attribute as a tooltip, which is
wrong, but will use the title attribute in preference if it is present.
D
Dan
Suzanne said:
You should use them in accordance with their standards-compliant
purpose; the ALT attribute is required for all images and should
consist of whatever the image ought to be replaced with if not
displayed (e.g., in a text browser), which may sometimes be a null
string (for spacers and purely decorative images). The TITLE attribute
is not required, but can be used for supplemental information where
this is relevant.
V
Vladdy
Spacers have reason to be in HTML in this day and age.Dan said:
Purely decorative images belong in CSS as element backgrounds.
S
Suzanne Knapp
Thanks. I didn't realize that IE's display of Alt text was erroneous - I
thought that was what was supposed to happen, and was surprised when FireFox
didn't do it. At the FF site I learned that they would display Title text,
so thought that using both attributes (with the same text) would give me
what I wanted. So far so good with IE 6 and FF, haven't tried any others
yet.
thought that was what was supposed to happen, and was surprised when FireFox
didn't do it. At the FF site I learned that they would display Title text,
so thought that using both attributes (with the same text) would give me
what I wanted. So far so good with IE 6 and FF, haven't tried any others
yet.
D
dorayme
From: Dylan Parry said:
I'd say to be careful about titles, they seem to invariably produce pop out
bubbles which are sometimes a distracting nuisance...
(1) Once I was greatly irritated because I was using the mouse to point
things out to someone in a picture, every time the mouse moved the bubble
would pop up. (2) I have had cases of these pop outs obscuring things I
wanted to see. (3) I *wanted* to read the content of the bubbles but they
refused to stay long enough! (Sorry, it sounds like I am hard to please...
but there is a serious point here.)
Surely all browsers "honor" alt tags? So the decision is when to use
"title". I'd say, only if you want the viewer to briefly see some very short
extra info ... in an image not likely to be so great that a viewer might
want to lovingly feel all over it with a mouse...
dorayme
S
Suzanne Knapp
The popouts are the effect I was trying for, so Title is fine for that
purpose. They stay on as long as the cursor is over the image, which is
what I want. The only problem is older browsers that don't display title
text, and the Alt text covers those (at least the ones I know about).
Suzanne
purpose. They stay on as long as the cursor is over the image, which is
what I want. The only problem is older browsers that don't display title
text, and the Alt text covers those (at least the ones I know about).
Suzanne
M
Mark Parnell
Previously in alt.html said:
On IE, alt does the same.
*Attributes*. alt *attributes*.
Use an empty title (title="") to stop IE from displaying the alt
attribute as a tooltip.
M
Mark Parnell
Previously in alt.html said:
A common misconception, thanks to IE's behaviour. :-(
According to the specs -
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-alt - the alt
attribute specifies a textual *alternative* to the image. IOW, it is
supposed to be displayed only if the image *isn't*, for whatever reason.
M
Mark Parnell
Previously in alt.html said:
I think that would be *no* reason?
D
dorayme
From: "Suzanne Knapp said:
Yes, I gathered that you probably did want this popout. In my experience
there is a time limit for their existence even if the mouse is not moved but
I won't bother you on this as it might be a quirk of my mac browsers (I am
now wondering if there is any setting for this?). Still, I do think it is
probably a good idea to keep the title nice and short for reasons you can
gather from my last post...
dorayme
M
Mark Parnell
Previously in alt.html said:
In Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox it is about 6 secs IIRC.
Not in any browser that I know of.
Plus the Mozilla family of browsers doesn't always display the whole
title attribute anyway - it cuts it off if it is too long. It depends on
exactly what it is, but it tends to be around 100 characters.
D
dorayme
Yes, I know but one *has* to put in alt attributes if one wants to be kosherFrom: Mark Parnell said:
....
Yes, and oops! But thanks, loose talk...*Attributes*. alt *attributes*.
Ah so! An interesting point, especially for me who is keen to be sparing
about tooltips.
dorayme
D
dorayme
Just a further note, on one IE (for Mac version 5.1.6), the alt attribute
does not trigger tool tips, the title does though when added. There are many
features to IE 5 for Macs that seem much more solid than the PC version. I
understand that the people who developed the Mac version had a bigger clue
about what they were doing (one source for this was a remark by SP a while
back, but also others and my own observations)
does not trigger tool tips, the title does though when added. There are many
features to IE 5 for Macs that seem much more solid than the PC version. I
understand that the people who developed the Mac version had a bigger clue
about what they were doing (one source for this was a remark by SP a while
back, but also others and my own observations)
B
Blinky the Shark
dorayme said:
The day I turned off "tooltips" (in which category Opera includes the
title attribute) for good was the day I was trying to read a long
article on a page with very long paragraphs where each *entire
paragraph* (i.e., nearly the whole page!) had a title. It kept popping
up boxes every time I brought the cursor onto the page to click a link.
And the titles were something useless like "Chapter 14".
I only have one title attribute at blinkynet, and it's been there for
years. Last week, I added a second, and scratched a small bald spot on
my head, trying to figure out why Opera (which is no longer my primary
browser) wouldn't show it.