[WEB4LIB] RE: java popups on library web sites

[Thomas Dowling]

The title attribute isn't exactly new, having been available for LINK and
A elements in HTML 3.2, January 1997.  It became nearly universal in HTML
4.0, December 1997, becoming one of the core attributes that can be
applied to almost every element, along with id, class, and style.

I agree with Bill that the title attribute can be a better choice, and I
use it throughout some of OhioLINK's main services.  However, there's
nothing that says it must be rendered as a pop-up or tooltip; it's defined
in the HTML spec as "advisory title/amplification".  IE4+ treats it as a
tooltip, but Opera, which only understands it on A elements, displays the
title in the window's status bar.  Netscape 4.7 ignores it (strange, I
remember earlier versions displaying the title in the status bar...), as
does Mozilla M9.  For browsers that display titles for links in the status
bar, the title will probably prevent the browser from also displaying the
URL, which annoys me.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu



----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Drew <drewwe at MORRISVILLE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 1999 2:18 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: java popups on library web sites


> Instead of using Javascript mouseovers, why not use the new Title
property
> for URLs.  Roy Tennant pointed to a webpage the other day that talked
about
> 10 web pages do's.  IT was listed there.  Here is an example:
>
> <a href="http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/njc" Title="The best guide
to
> agriculture on the Web">Not Just Cows</a>
>
> I will be implementing this on our new webserver.
>