Provide better ALT Names on images.

[/a3]

it reads the images and from their name it sets the alt.

What's the point in that? Many screen readers would read that bit anyway.

When encountering images that are missing an alt attribute, screen readers may provide what information they extract from the page content (such as file name or dimensions or location on the page) in an effort to provide SOME alternative to the user.

If alternative text is going to be done, it should at least be done properly.

[DavidIQ]

I think the only viable solution to this is to allow something like img="The alt text". In the absence of said property assignment there would be no reason to try and guess as to what it should be due to the reasons /a3 stated.

[Dragosvr92]

What's the point in that? Many screen readers would read that bit anyway.

What do you mean..?

[quote=""/a3"]"When encountering images that are missing an alt attribute, screen readers may provide what information they extract from the page content (such as file name or dimensions or location on the page) in an effort to provide SOME alternative to the user."
If alternative text is going to be done, it should at least be done properly.[/quote]
To the user or to the crawler? The user sees what the image represents and it doesnt need a name for it.

I think the only viable solution to this is to allow something like img="The alt text". In the absence of said property assignment there would be no reason to try and guess as to what it should be due to the reasons /a3 stated.

I think there is absolutely no need to bother making the img tag like this img="The alt text".
Why would people bother to give a name to their image just to do something they dont see or use..... Which is the alt.. Maybe if you would add a title on the image at top might encourage them to name them........

But, all this can be done in php. Why load the language file in php to set the alt, when you could just make a few lines o php code that reads what the name of the image is and sets it as an alt..

[DavidIQ]

I had to read from the beginning again to see what all the fuss is about. Here I thought you were concerned about those that are visually impaired, which is why I was agreeing with /a3, and really all you're bringing up here is something about SEO.

IMO whatever we'd do as a solution in code, i.e. what Arty suggested, is likely already being done by search engines.

[Dragosvr92]

And i get it that phpbb doesnt care to be SEO compatible, so it will make forums rank better in search engines..?

All it would need is a simple function that gets the name of the image and puts it into the alt="".
Better than loading the language file that says "Image", just not to let the alt empty. Arty explained a bit better than i did on the first page.

[DavidIQ]

And i get it that phpbb doesnt care to be SEO compatible, so it will make forums rank better in search engines..?

Nobody has said that. My views and opinions do not represent what the rest of the group thinks or feels. All I'm really looking for is something to back up your claim that what you're suggesting here actually does anything for a board's SEO, something that search engines aren't already doing.

[Dragosvr92]

Yes, i knew that, but i was talking about the soft itself and you make it sound like it shouldnt support SEO.
It might not be a great improvement in SEO, but in my opinion it is an idea to get better and accurate alt's, other than one saying image.
All it would need would be an easy PHP function to replace that $user->lang['IMAGE']. Should be a few minutes work for someone experienced.
Yes i know i repeat myself. Sorry if you feel im putting pression on anyone about this subject. It can be ignored if you feel its a bad idea.

[ecwpa]

Here I thought you were concerned about those that are visually impaired, which is why I was agreeing with /a3, and really all you're bringing up here is something about SEO.

Whats wrong with SEO? Wouldn't you like your content to be easier to find? You make it sound like it's evil or the complete opposite to making visually impaired optimizations. Why can't we have both?

Anyway, this request sounds razonable and I support it but I'm guessing a lot of ALT text are going to end up being random alphanumeric characters, like most images nowdays.

[DavidIQ]

Yes, i knew that, but i was talking about the soft itself and you make it sound like it shouldnt support SEO.
It might not be a great improvement in SEO, but in my opinion it is an idea to get better and accurate alt's, other than one saying image.
All it would need would be an easy PHP function to replace that $user->lang['IMAGE']. Should be a few minutes work for someone experienced.
Yes i know i repeat myself. Sorry if you feel im putting pression on anyone about this subject. It can be ignored if you feel its a bad idea.

Well nobody's going to do anything if you don't create an RFC topic

[/a3]

Better than loading the language file that says "Image", just not to let the alt empty. Arty explained a bit better than i did on the first page.

I don't think putting file names in alt text would even make a difference. Google possibly already uses filenames to get more information about your images anyway.

The filename can give Google clues about the subject matter of the image. Try to make your filename a good description of the subject matter of the image.

So there doesn't appear to be any SEO benefit from this point of view, and there doesn't seem to be any benefit for screenreaders either. By the way, putting "Image" as the alt text is a silly idea, since the tag is an <img> tag anyway (so it's kind of obvious that it's going to be an image).

Whats wrong with SEO? Wouldn't you like your content to be easier to find? You make it sound like it's evil or the complete opposite to making visually impaired optimizations. Why can't we have both?

I don't mind legitimate SEO, but I'm a believer that making senseless changes doesn't make any difference whatsoever.