Re: alts

It is my understanding the image alt tag was designed for those browsers 
which are unable to display the graphic image, and thus maintain the 
overall continuity of the page the designer had in mind with minimal 
adverse impact.  If you read the W3C standards at 
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#alternate-text, it says 
about the same thing.

Now the image may not display for a number of reasons, including:

1)  A bad connection in that the image fails to download properly.
2)  The user has a browser incapable of displaying images.
3)  The user has turned off the image reproducing capabilities of their 
browser, either deliberately or accidentally.
4)   The user is using a tool to convert text to speech in order to "read" 
a page.   Mind you, this does not mean the user is handicapped, per se, and 
unable to access the web page as anyone else, but may be doing something 
requiring this conversion process.

The failure to use the alt tag is at your own peril.  While it is a very 
small part in the overall web scheme of things, it is placing a more and 
more important role as access to information diversifies among the browsers 
and tools used to access the information.

Consistent use of the alt tag supports the age-old saying to take care of 
the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.




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