[WEB4LIB] <alt> tags

[Thomas Dowling]

> Good afternoon all,
>
> I have recently begun adding alt tags to the images on our web site.
> However, I am not sure I am going about naming the images in the correct
> way.  It seems to me there are several possible ways to do this: one
could
> describe the image itself, describe what it does, or describe what it
> "goes with."
>

The best rule of thumb I've heard for alt text (technically, the alt
*attribute* for several HTML elements) is to imagine reading your page
over the phone to a friend.  Your editorial good sense will tell you if
you should leave out any reference to an purely decorative image, in which
case go with alt="".  In other cases, you'll simply replace the image with
any text it represents, in which case you'll want alt="text that replaces
image".  And in still other cases, no quick description will do justice to
the image, in which case you probably want the most direct statement of
what the picture is, with a longdesc attribute or a link pointing to a
fuller description: <img src="party.jpg" alt="Scene from the office
Christmas party" longdesc="joe_and_mary_in_the_supply_room.html">.

I would treat all the images on your resource.htm page as decorative icons
and give them all alt="".

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