[WEB4LIB] Re: Creating an empty table cell

[Eric Holt]

This is something that I've never understood.  Why is alt=" " more 
accessible than no alt tag at all?  Why convey information that there is no 
information to convey?  Also, why are invisible images an issue for ADA 
compliance when *sighted* people can't even see them?  I've seen the 
recommendation for the empty alt tags in a lot of places but I've never 
seen any explaination as to why they are needed.  Alt tags for images that 
convey information are obviously necessary, but why extend this to images 
that have no meaning?  Am I missing something?

Eric Holt
Manager, Computer and Network Services
Central Arkansas Library System

At 06:39 AM 3/15/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>The only thing about using a transparent gif is that unless you give it an
>"alt" tag, you're not ADA compatible.  Now, the work around for this is to
>give it an "alt" tag of a space:  alt=" " is completely acceptable for ADA
>compliance.
>
>Tracey - who's glad it's Friday
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Keith Higgs [mailto:dkh2 at po.cwru.edu]
>Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 9:34 AM
>To: Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Creating an empty table cell
>
>
>Occasionally I will use a single pixel transparent gif.  That's a 1*1
>bitonal gif in which that one pixel is the transparent color.
>
>At 11:55 AM 3/14/2002, Robert Sullivan wrote:
> >I've always used   when I wanted to make sure my tables displayed
> >properly.  I have recently seen a comment that it's better to use a break
>tag
> >to fill in an empty cell.  I have used <br> in tables to make them more
> >intelligible to text browsers, but not for this purpose.
> >
> >Any opinions?
> >
> >Bob Sullivan                               scp_sulli at sals.edu
> >Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org
>
>D. Keith Higgs. Email: dkh2 at po.cwru.edu, dkhiggs at yahoo.com
>Case Western Reserve University, Webmaster - University Library
>More Info: http://www.cwru.edu/UL/pershomepages/K_Higgs.html
>"'C' is for Cookie, that's good enough for me."