Re: lynx-dev ALT ignored on <input type=button>

[Ismael Cordeiro]

On Wed, 20 Jan 1999, Greg Marr wrote:

> >Although HTML 4.0 says that ALT is an attribute of IMG, APPLET, AREA and
> >INPUT, ALT is always associated with an image. Without an image, as in
> >the example given by David, there is no place for ALT. HTML 4.0 clearly
> >says that "the alt attribute specifies alternate text that is rendered
> >when the image cannot be displayed" and that "authors that create a
> >BUTTON with an IMG element should specify alternate text for the image".
> 
> While it is correct that ALT has no meaning in this case, it is not
> because of ALT is not an attribute of INPUT, as was implied by "ALT is an
> attribute of the IMG element". It is because ALT is only meaningful for
> TYPE=SUBMIT. I really don't see the use of displaying [BUTTON] at all. The
> VALUE attribute of the BUTTON is what is supposed to be displayed on the
> button, and you can't do anything with a [BUTTON] in lynx. Anyone remember
> when/why that was added? I haven't been able to find anything useful in
> the archives.

[BUTTON] was introduced in one of Foteos's bugfixes for Lynx 2.7.1:

1997-07-14
* Added recognition of BUTTON elements, and handling of them (sorta :)
  when they are TYPE="submit" or TYPE="reset" in forms.  The default
  "submit" or "reset" string, or the value of a VALUE attribute, if
  present, is embedded in parentheses and used for the link, and the
  content is simply rendered and displayed in place.  Until we see what
  kind of markup the real world puts in such elements, it's too risky
  to try to use that rendition as the link.  Also, the W3C's HTML 4.0
  draft presently is very fuzzy about whether, and if so, when, an IMG
  element in the BUTTON content should be treated as an image map, so
  the present code doesn't try to cast any submitted BUTTON name/value
  pairs into the format for INPUTs with TYPE="image".  When the BUTTON
  is a script control rather than submit or reset button, a "[BUTTON]"
  pseudo-ALT is inserted to warn users of its presence, but the form
  is not disabled.  The W3C's HTML 4.0 draft makes scripting intrinsic,
  with no SGML-based fallbacks if it is not available or is disabled by
  security-conscious sites.  Dave Raggett of the W3C replied to criticisms
  of this in address@hidden by saying that he wished it have been
  otherwise, but "market forces" prevailed (Sigh...) - FM


Ismael
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