150825 - <img> tag: the "alt" parameter does not work as it should

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 25537

(SeaMonkey :: General, defect)

Description

[Philip Petrescu]

Normally, the alt parameter is used for two things:

1) to display a message when a browser can't/doesn't load an image
2) to display a message when hovering over an image with your mouse

The second one does not work in Mozilla and I think it's a very important thing
to have. I use it mostly for help when clicking an image button.

Comment 1

[Philip Petrescu]

Example:

<a href="http://www.host.com/">
  <img alt="help about this image" src=/images/image.gif border=0>
</a>

The text "help about this image" should be displayed when hovering over this
image with your mouse, but it doesn't.

A workaround could be the following, but it's messier than the default
implementation.

<script>
function showtip(current,e,text) {
	if (document.all || document.getElementById)
		current.title=text;
}
function hidetip() {
	if (document.layers)
		document.tooltip.visibility="hidden";
}
</script>

<a href="http://www.host.com/" onMouseover="showtip(this,event,'help about this
image')" onMouseout="hidetip()">
  <img src="images/test.gif" border=0>
</a>

Comment 2

[Junk_HbJ]

W3C specs say that "alt" is "alternative text" for images which can't be shown.

The "title" tag should do what you want.

This should be dup of bug 25537.

Comment 3

[Bradley Baetz (:bbaetz)]

Yep, you want the title tag if you want the browser to display the title.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 25537 ***

Comment 4

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

verified