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Menachem's Writings A sobering Thought I've been working on the web since the very beginning: website design, CGI Perl programming, graphics and lots more too. I've often wondered why old(er) people have so much difficulty with technology. Why are they dumber than the average 13 year old? Well of course they are not. I realised last night that the best way to index images on the web (from < img src . . .>) is by the text in the ALT field. As a matter of fact the Alt field is the only way you can "see" what is in a picture. Agree? . Anyway I was explaining this revelation to a friend. How did I explain it? I started off with an explanation of loading pictures into early browsers, the option of turning off picture display, slow downloads, text displays instead or while picture loading. . . . . And then it hit me -- all of this was totally irrelevant unless I am writing a history of the Internet! All that matters is that you should be using the Alt field in the img src if you want non-humans to know what the picture is all about. So what did I realise -- old people know tooo much -- they're burdened by history. My knowledge of the Internet going back to early Arpanet has no value to making a buck or running a business on the web today. |