[WEB4LIB] RE: Photos on Home Pages

[Thomas Dowling]

At 11:59 AM 12/12/2001, Keith wrote:

>At 11:06 AM 12/12/2001 -0500, I wrote:
>
>>Any reason why non-Javascript viewers get no picture at all?
>>
>
>It could be that in order to get the starting image to be a random 
>selection from those available the actual image tag is written by a 
>script.  Hence, no Javascript == no tag. If you're paying attention, 
>there's a paragraph missing under the "Did You Know" heading in that same 
>column. Same reasoning - the paragraph is a random selected 
>document.write() in a script.

The <noscript> element is the place to put default content to be displayed 
in place of client side script-generated content.  You could pick one nice 
image an stick it there.


>While we're on the no-Javascript issue... I'm guessing you're using 
>something like Amaya - which doesn't include Javascript support - or 
>something like it.

No, an obscure little browser called Internet Explorer 6.  I set the 
Internet Security Zone to disable scripting; when and if a site persuades 
me that its scripts are worth it, I move it into my Trusted Zone.

Innumerable caveats about methodology aside, pages under 
<http://www.thecounter.com/stats/> suggest that more than 10% of users may 
have client-side scripting disabled.  Users with some vision or cognitive 
disabilities are also likely to surf with scripting disabled.  Making sure 
pages work with scripting disabled (and I'm not really arguing that yours 
is broken) is a priority 1 checkpoint in the Web Content Accessibility 
Guidelines.

I'll echo Roy's comment that any server-side technology can easily deal out 
random images minus any client-side hassles.


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