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From: Anthony Williams (anthony_w.geo_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-15 07:47:56


Rene Rivera <grafik.list_at_[hidden]> writes:

> Anthony Williams wrote:
>
>> Having images on web-site buttons is awkward; you need to provide alternate
>> text for those people who don't have browsers capable of rendering the
>> image, but this needs to be hidden if the browser is showing the
>> image. Setting the indent to -9000px (as you have) works, *except* if you
>> have a browser *capable* of showing the image (e.g. Firefox/Win2k), but
>> with image viewing disabled --- in which case you don't get anything
>> displayed at all.
>
> Hm, interesting problem, not sure how often it comes up. And that button
> does have an alt which it should have displayed, without shifting the text
> away :-( I'll see what I can do to make the text show up in this
> circumstance.

Just for reference, the same problem occurs with IE6 if "Show Pictures" is
turned off. It seems that modern browsers aren't very keen to show the alt
text (though they do tend to show it if the image can't be found, or hasn't
loaded yet)

>> In the past I have given up trying, and just had a text button. I thought
>> about maybe having a block with a background image directly on top of a
>> text button. That way, if the image isn't visible (for *any* reason), then
>> the text shows through. I don't know how easy that is to arrange, though; I
>> didn't get as far as trying it.
>
> The usual text buttons are just offensive to the style of web pages. They're
> even offensive in the regular GUI, which is why you see many applications
> use image buttons instead.

When I say "text button", I didn't mean <input type="button">, rather I meant
an <a> tag with a text label, and fancy styling. E.g. Make it a block element,
use border styles to give it a 3d look, and A:hover to highlight it when the
mouse moves over it. Of course, you can make it nicer than a simple "3d
button" if you've got the time, patience and flair :-)

Anthony

-- 
Anthony Williams
Software Developer

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