Hmm, options discussed so far (with arguments judged by me):
<img src=001>
++ Authoring.
- alt can have been omitted for the wrong reasons currently.
- Not compatible with current JAWS
- Makes automated conformance checking harder.
<img src=001 alt>
+ Authoring
-+ empty string can have been used for the wrong reasons already.
-+ What to do when authors omit alt?
- Overloads empty string value.
- Not compatible with current JAWS
<img src=001 alt=magic-string>
-+ Somewhat compatible with JAWS (image can be discovered).
-+ What to do when authors omit alt?
- Overloads alt value with a "random string"
- Authoring becomes confusing.
<img src=001 alt=content noalt>
+ Authoring is ok.
+ Makes automated conformance checking better.
-+ alt= can be used to specify a string for older UAs.
Not really sure what's better. I'm not sure it matters much either given
the current state of ATs and the expected date of arrival of HTML5. I
think my money is with the image analyzer tools.
--
Anne van Kesteren
<http://annevankesteren.nl/>
<http://www.opera.com/>
