Alt

[ashers]

Hi,
Would it be considered spamming to search engines if I used for example:-

alt="Shires Veterinary Practice"

too many times on one page?

Cheers

[Klyve1]

I would think that although SE's take ALT tags into consideration they aren't of a high importance - as long as the ALT's are with images it should be fine.

[Charles]

Originally posted by ashers
Hi,
Would it be considered spamming to search engines if I used for example:-

alt="Shires Veterinary Practice"

too many times on one page?

Cheers

Perhaps. But more importantly, it would be considered taking white canes from blind people trying to cross the street. The ALT attribute contains the text that will be presented when the image cannot be. It's there to make your page work on Braille and audiop browsers. The ALT text is a white cane that blind people use to cross the streets that are the world wide web. (See http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-alt.)

[Klyve1]

While I agree wholly with Charles and the need to write responsisbly for accessibility, the ALT tag is for when the image is not found or when images are turned off, the TITLE tag is for assisted technologies.

[Charles]

Originally posted by Klyve1
While I agree wholly with Charles and the need to write responsisbly for accessibility, the ALT tag is for when the image is not found or when images are turned off, the TITLE tag is for assisted technologies.

Do you really think that Braille and audio browsers simply ignore the value of the ALT attribute? No, the ALT text is primarily an accesibility aid.

From the HTML 4.01 Specification:
Several non-textual elements (IMG, AREA, APPLET, and INPUT) let authors specify alternate text to serve as content when the element cannot be rendered normally. Specifying alternate text assists users without graphic display terminals, users whose browsers don't support forms, visually impaired users, those who use speech synthesizers, those who have configured their graphical user agents not to display images, etc.
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-alt

And the TITLE element is for everybody.

From the HTML 4.01 Specification:
Values of the title attribute may be rendered by user agents in a variety of ways. For instance, visual browsers frequently display the title as a "tool tip" (a short message that appears when the pointing device pauses over an object). Audio user agents may speak the title information in a similar context. For example, setting the attribute on a link allows user agents (visual and non- visual) to tell users about the nature of the linked resource.
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/gl...tml#adef-title

[Klyve1]

Well that's enlightened me, thanks Charles

[ashers]

Would it not be possible to just answer my question?

[Klyve1]

As I said in my first reply... yes.

Except that as a professional and considerate web designer you shouldn't do it.