It is very strange but I had a colleague ask me the other day "What exactly should I write for an image alt text?" Alt text is the text that appears when an image is not displayed by a website. If an image has not loaded properly on a web page then you will be presented with the alt text. For individuals with sight difficulties alt text can be used by their computer screen readers to describe the image. However my good friends over at Net Resources have recently blogged about Sitepoint.com's Bulletproof HTML. In this article they have explained four clear and concise ways of entering alt text that should leave no web developer confused.

1st Example

An image that is used as a generic illustration for an article about beef cattle farming in Scotland. The actual cow isn't germane to the article; it's just an illustration, a decorative design element that draws the reader's eye and relieves the monotony of the text. In this case, the image doesn't convey any relevant information.

• Therefore it should have an empty text equivalent: alt=""

2nd Example

An image is used on a children's web site about farm animals. The page shows pictures of various animals: a horse, a sheep, a pig, a cow, etc. Next to each image is a block of text that presents some facts about each species.

• alt="Cow". It's not important that it's an Aberdeen Angus; the picture represents bovine quadrupeds in general.

3rd Example

An image is used on a site about different breeds of cattle. Here it is used to illustrate what an Aberdeen Angus looks like, and how it is different from other breeds. The page comprises a number of images, each with a caption that identifies the breed, but no other textual information. In this case, the text equivalent should describe the particular attributes and traits that are specific to an Aberdeen Angus.

• alt="the robust build, the massive chest, the relatively short legs, the buffalo-like hump behind the head"

4th Example

An image is used on a photographer's portfolio page. It's one image among several others, with very different motifs. This is one of the few cases where the alt attribute might actually include a description of the image itself.

• alt="A black Aberdeen Angus grazing in the sunshine with Ben Nevis in the background"

Google is a search engine...we all know that! But did you know that it is also a calculator, dictionary and flight tracking device amongst other things? Yes Google, as it slowly takes over the world, is spreading its services so that in the next 5 or so years we will use this one website for just about everything. On one hand this is pure corporate domination, on the other, a bloody great tool for the average Joe Bloggs. Here is a few things that you can type into the Google search box:

• Putting a +, -, *, / or % sign between two numbers gives you the calculator functionality.
• Putting a - symbol between two words allows you to search for the first word but not the second e.g. If you want to look for a Salsa dip recipe and not trail through dance class results then input Salsa - dance.
• More Shortcuts

Here is some info of the ways Google provides shortcuts for finding commonly sought utilities and information, which you may have previously found offline or on specialized sites.

A new buzz word has hit the World Wide Web recently and it is all about you! Egosurfing is the new term used to describe people that put their name into a search engine to see what the internet has to say about them. Sound familiar? Well I suspect it does with over 101 million websites offically on the web these days it is hard not to be tempted by the allure of searching for juicy gossip about oneself. "Egosurfing has only been possible since the advent of internet search engines, but it has much older roots. Scientists have long measured the impact of their work by citations - the number of times people reference their papers. The web was invented as a way to publish scientific papers, so it's not surprising that it has spawned a personal equivalent of the citation count." New Scientist- Issue 2577 Luckily (or unluckily) for me there is a real law that has my name on it. On August 6, 1998, Governor George E. Pataki signed "Jenna's Law" which represented the second phase of his initiative to introduce truth-in-sentencing principles into New York State?s sentencing structure for all violent felony offenders. Try your name today and see what you can find...