Bug 276839

> If image dimensions (@width and @height) are specified, the browser renders
> alternate text within those dimensions. If alternate text does not fit those
> dimensions, it is cut-off. 

Vlad, you understand the issue here.

> This can result in loss of information to the reader
> and affects comprehension. This also does not encourage use of alternate text.

I entirely agree with you.

> Steps to Reproduce:
> Render the following markup:
> 
> <h1>I <img src="heart.gif" alt="love" width="16" height="16" /> you!</h1>
> 
> Above markup in standards mode:
> http://html4all.org/staging/a11y-bugs/1002/test1.php
> 
> Above markup in quirks mode:
> http://html4all.org/staging/a11y-bugs/1002/test2.php
> 
> Actual Results:  
> You cannot read the alternate text which in this case is the word "love". See
> screen shot:
> http://html4all.org/staging/a11y-bugs/1002/konqueror-bad-alt-render.gif
> 
> Expected Results:  
> You should see the alternate text in place of the image.
> 
> Firefox correctly renders alternate text (not constrained by @width and
> @height) if page contains a DOCTYPE. While the image is loading, a placeholder
> (outline) with the @width/@height is rendered. When the image fails to load,
> alternate text is rendered in place of the image placeholder/outline as shown
> in this screen shot:
> 
> http://html4all.org/staging/a11y-bugs/1002/ff-good-alt-render.gif
> 
> Test case - image loads after 5 seconds:
> http://rebuildingtheweb.com/misc/html4all/slow-load-found.asp
> 
> Test case - image fails to loads after 5 seconds:
> http://rebuildingtheweb.com/misc/html4all/slow-load-not-found.asp
> 
> It would be useful to have alternate text displayed as text, rather than text
> on a graphic. This way, parts of alternate text could be selected, copied and
> alternate text would wrap.

Text selectability of alt text by mouse dragging would require another bug report, I' say; and here, you have to acknowledge that even latest stable Firefox version 5.0 fails.

> It would also be beneficial to make alternate text
> participate in Find operation.

A good observation but again this would require another bug report.

> 
> To convey the importance of this bug and the recommended solution, a group of
> 15 accessibility experts have co-signed this bug report here:
> http://html4all.org/staging/a11y-bugs/1002/

Please visit
bug 170069 Rendering ALT text for images as inline and expanding the image placeholder dimensions as required by the alt text 
and 
bug 48458 Disabled images without specifized size need non-zero default

Also webkit 
bug _5566_ ALT attribute value sometimes not displayed when image is missing
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5566

and Google chrome is 
issue 773: Broken/missing/not found images should display ALT text
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=773

When an image is unavailable - for whatever reasons -, then its alt text should be rendered inline and use as much space as it requires.
http://www.gtalbot.org/BrowserBugsSection/MSIE7Bugs/ExpandingAltTextForImages.html

"
browser.display.force_inline_alttext
True: Force broken images' alt text to be displayed inline
False (default): Show an icon if rendering in Quirks Mode and there is no alt text, or if rendering in Quirks Mode and the image has a size specified. 
"
http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries

I think bug 170069, bug 48458 and bug 276839 should merge into 1 single bug report.

regards, Gérard

I think bug 158249, bug 170069, bug 48458 and bug 276839 should merge into 1 single bug report.

regards, Gérard

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 158249 ***