Talk:Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

alt attribute
Reference to the boot's clearly-visible zip has twice been removed from the image's alt attribute. No justification has been given; it should be restored. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:04, 12 February 2013 (UTC)


 * And it will be removed every time you try to add it. The purpose of alt text, as an IT expert like you ought to know, is not to describe an image but to act as an alternative for it. George Ponderevo (talk) 23:08, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I know what alt attributes are for. You give no justification for your removal of the part about the zip. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:12, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * You clearly don't know what alt attributes are for. George Ponderevo (talk) 23:19, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * And still you offer no justification for your edit. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:22, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Your alt text is longer than the succinct text recommended by those who actually know what they're talking about. For instance, why are you focusing on the zip, when a much more obvious feature of the boot is that the front is longer than the back? George Ponderevo (talk) 23:28, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Your appeal to authority is not a justification; and neither is your ad absurdum rhetoric. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:35, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Your disregard for those who know more than you do is quite typical of your recent behaviour, but I suggest that you brush up on your understanding of "appeal to authority" all the same. George Ponderevo (talk) 23:48, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Depends how important the zip is in the grand scheme of things. As a totally blind person who knows almost zip about boots, I wouldn't really have expected a zip to be there. But then again, the front being longer than the back might be important as well ... it depends on what sighted people (and those with knowledge about the boots in question) would consider the most important feature/s. Graham 87 01:29, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Please calm down. You're both correct in some way. And Graham87 has it right, it depends of the importance of the zip in the picture (or artwork). As a sighted person, I believe zips are very common on this type of shoe. I would not say it is one of the major feature of this shoe.

To understand the purpose of alt text in this case, we have to know what purpose this image is here for. And thus find out if it is important for the understanding of the article. It turns out this picture was randomly chosen to illustrate that the museum contains shoes. Thus the image is decorative, and not needed to understand the article. Therefore, the only needed alt text would be the same as the one displayed to sighted users: "1970s woman's boot". More information is a bonus, not a requirement. Some blind users are going to wish for long descriptions or short descriptions based on their personal preference.

Conclusion: this issue is not worth fighting over. Both alt text are okay. Cheers, Dodoïste (talk) 09:19, 23 February 2013 (UTC)