alt tags - how long?

[jez]

Hi all,

Is there a technical limit anyone knows of, for the length of text in an alt tag.

For accessibility it should be limited to a max of 12-16 words, but i need to find out if there is a technical limit.

Thanks

Jez

p.s. the HTML 4.01 specification doesnt tell you so this is one for people who have found out a different way.

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

I've never tried finding the limit, but I cannot imagine it will be any less than 255 characters.

Why don't you try finding the limit yourself by increasing the size until it stops working?

Hope this helps,
Dan

 

[jez]

thanks for the reply.

I did, after posting here.

If you visit

http://www.lipsum.com

to get your latin text 'Lorem Ipsum', it will generate as much as you like, so i got 100 paragraphs, at approx 150 words per paragraph, and it still works (in IE at least).

I have also trawled through the W3C's site and the specification for HTML 4.01, but no figures.


In my test, although the alt text did appear it wasnt readable and flickered alot.
So the limit is practical not technical.


Thanks again,

JEz