[uf-discuss] making img machine-readable

[Scott Reynen]

On Jul 15, 2007, at 2:55 AM, Andy Mabbett wrote:

>> That should be marked up in a more modern manner using CSS image  
>> replacement, which entirely resolves any issues.
>>
>> <span class="fn"><span class="gothicletter a">A</span>ndy Mabbett</ 
>> span>
>
> That's a matter of opinion, and an option not open to users of some  
> systems.

What systems specifically?  And what publishers?  If the above  
publishing method presents real world problems, we should identify  
them as specifically as possible to explore alternative solutions.   
But we can't do that without any details.

> Besides, using microformats shouldn't require a publisher to use  
> one valid method over another; the example I give above *is* valid.

It passes the validator, but I think it's very questionable whether  
it adheres to the HTML spec, which says "since style sheets offer  
more powerful presentation mechanisms, the World Wide Web Consortium  
will eventually phase out many of HTML's presentation elements and  
attributes" [1].  There's also a recommendation of "Separate  
structure and presentation" [2].  The idea behind the introduction of  
style sheets was to move styling such as gothic letters into styles  
sheets and out of HTML documents, which are intended for content  
only.  Such styling still makes it through the validator, and so does  
alt="top left corner".  Both are discouraged in the spec.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/intro/intro.html#h-2.3.5
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/intro/intro.html#h-2.4.1

Peace,
Scott