181057 - missing alternate text reported as empty string (in media tab)

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(SeaMonkey :: Page Info, defect)

Description

[Per Ångström]

In the Media tab of the Page Info dialog, Alternate Text is reported as "Empty
String" when the alternate text is in fact missing.

How to reproduce:
1) Open the URL.
2) Open Page Info, and select the Media tab.
3) Run through the list and note that all images (except one) are reported as
having an empty string as alternate text.
4) View the page source and search for "alt=". There is only one occurrence.

This is 100 % reproducible, and I think it's not only on this particular site.

Tested in "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.3a) Gecko/20021119".

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

That's why it's italicised -- to indicate that this page info telling you
something, not the actual alt text.

Comment 2

[Per Ångström]

*** Bug 181064 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 3

[Per Ångström]

Re comment #1: I think you're missing my point (or else I'm missing something):
I want the missing alternate text to be reported as "Missing", not "Empty". The
distinction is quite important. If you look at Properties for the same images,
you will find that it says "Missing", and that is what Page Info should say, too.

I have noticed the use of italics, and I think it is very informative.

Comment 4

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Ah.  Yes, I did miss the point.  A "Actual results" vs "Expected results"
section in the original report would have helped a lot.  ;)

Comment 5

[Per Ångström]

Still reproducible in build 1.3b-20030110.

Comment 6

[Per Ångström]

No improvement in Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.3b) Gecko/20030123.

If this information can't be trusted, why not simply remove it? Incorrect
information is worse than no information, IMO.

Comment 7

[Per Ångström]

No improvement in Mozilla 1.4a-20030401.

A simple way to check for this bug is to enable the "Alternate Text" column in
the list; if the list says "Not Specified" the field will say "Empty String" (in
italics). 

I hadn't noticed the ALT-text column until today. Noting that it exists, I can't
see much point in having a special field for the same information, except that
the field text can be copied.

Comment 8

[Per Ångström]

Still not fixed in 1.4rc3.

Comment 9

[Per Ångström]

The error is still present in Mozilla 1.5 beta.

Comment 10

[Per Ångström]

No improvement in 1.6 beta.

Comment 11

[Per Ångström]

The bug survived into Mozilla 1.6.

Comment 12

[Per Ångström]

Still not fixed in 1.8a2.

Comment 13

[Erik Fabert]

Attachment: Don't call getValueText for image elements

Fixes the bug, but doesn't put "Not Specified" in italics yet. It looked ugly
when title and longdesc were "Not Specified", too.

Comment 14

[Daniel Brooks [:db48x]]

I've already got this working for alt and all of the similar attributes, it'll
actually be in a patch I'm wrapping up today or tommorrow. I should probably
figure out which bugs it fixes and let you know so we don't duplicate any effort.

Comment 15

[Erik Fabert]

Comment on attachment 155305 [details] [diff] [review]
Don't call getValueText for image elements

Ok, I'll wait for your patch.

Comment 16

[u119584]

This issue is still present in Firefox 1.0 release and in Mozilla 1.7.3.

I think the alt attribute information in the media tab can be useful for
checking through for image accessibility on pages. It gives a nice overview that
the Web Developer toolbar doesn't always give graphically.

I can't see why it is still reporting "empty string" for missing alt attributes
- the Element Properties box gets it right.

Comment 17

[Daniel Brooks [:db48x]]

just chekcked in, marking bug 19492 and it's dependants fixed

Comment 18

[Per Ångström]

Marking as VERIFIED.