[thelist] re alt tags google vs accessability

David Dorward evolt at david.us-lot.org
Mon Mar 3 02:20:01 CST 2003


On Mon, Mar 03, 2003 at 03:13:48 +0000, Boldacious wrote:
> Google now uses alt tags in their description of sites.
> And we are supposed to use the alt tags for accessibility (mainly
> for sight-disabled or "images-turned-off" users)
> So if I have a header logo on every page which links to the home
> page I should have an alt tag which says "my site logo - link back
> to home page" or something like that. However that is useless for
> google which will include this text in the site description.

It's also pretty awful alt text. Rule of thumb: Alt text should be
what you say if you read the page out over the phone.

> my site logo

Alt is about meaning, not descriptions.

> link back

Browsers are capable of indicating what elements are links all by
themselves.

> to home page

Site logos are almost always links back to the homepage, (and browsers
are usually capable of indicating the URL a link goes to if the user
asks) so this is redundant.

So typically a site logo would be something like:

<h1><a href="/"><img src="logo.png" alt="My Company"></a></h1>


--
David Dorward                                   http://david.us-lot.org/
"You cannot rewrite history, not one line."
                                      - The Doctor (Dr. Who: The Aztecs)



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