[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 5566] ALT attribute value not displayed when image is missing

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5566





--- Comment #35 from Gérard Talbot <browserbugs at gtalbot.org>  2010-11-16 10:35:51 PST ---
(In reply to comment #31)
> This bug is about displaying ALT text for missing images only - resources that the browser tried to fetch, and got HTTP code 404 Not Found. 

Alexey,

I think you have a point. The bug summary and bug description should have stated (otherwise should have been updated to reflect better what the bug was about) that the alt text is not rendered when image placeholder dimensions are insufficient (not wide enough) for the whole alt text.

> This is solely for the (questionable) benefit of sighted users, 

Alt text is useful for indexing a webpage according to many sources.

Sometimes, the url to the image has changed or was moved (excellent example of this happening is Internet Archive: WayBack Machine site): in such cases, if the image code provides an alt text, then the sighted user can still and should still be able to understand the page, continue consulting, reading the page. If the choice of the alt text is done correctly [alt text should be textual replacement, related to meaning and not a description], then the user may not even noticed that an image was not fetched and that a text replaced it.

If providing an alt text was questionably beneficial for sighted users, then I fail to see why webkit-based browsers provide a setting in the user preferences to disable image download to begin with.

> and only in cases when the site is broken anyway, having bad links to its images.

Sometimes, internet traffic can disrupt image fetching: it happens.

If you are in a place where fast download and speed of rendering page is important, like, say in a school during dinner time, then disableing image download may be a wise and defendable decision. Many bytes and http requests can be saved that way.

Alexey, there are people who are not using a fast connexion (cable or satelite). 

In some countries, internet connexion costs per Kbytes of download, while others costs per hour.

> This is how the bug was filed originally, and I don't think that it should be repurposed to track other issues with ALT that we might have. 

Not everyone (who are not original reporter) has sufficient powers to edit a bug summary, you know.

> That would be quite confusing, and can only slow down moving such issues to resolution. But if there are other issues indeed, it would be really appreciated if you could file them as separate bugs.

I invite you to read 

1-
MINI FAQ ABOUT THE ALTERNATE TEXT OF IMAGES, Written by Ian Hickson
http://hixie.ch/advocacy/alttext

2-
Side by Side WCAG vs. 508
http://jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm#WCAGView

3- 
Several national governments (New-Zealand, UK, USA, etc.) now require government websites (and/or entreprises doing business with them or having contracts with them) to provide proper alt text for images. 

IMO, the most important issue to fix here is related to image placeholder dimensions versus alt text (see comment #24 in this bug). An alt text *very often* does not use the same dimensions as the image; it is not likely. "A picture is worth a thousand words"

best regards, Gérard Talbot

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