[whatwg] Definition of alt= attribute

[Matthew Raymond]

Alexey Feldgendler wrote:
> This sounds reasonable. I guess I should change my statement:
> 
> The alt attrubute should be made optional, and when it's omitted, the UA  
> should try to obtain some useful information from the file name or by  
> other means.

   I'm not sure I agree. If you look at what you might use <img> for,
it's almost always presentational, and could therefore be done with CSS.
The more semantic the image, the more necessary alternate content
becomes, thus making the |alt| attribute necessary for a truly semantic
<img> element. If you find yourself using <img alt=""> a lot, it's
probably because you're not making proper use of CSS, or because you're
using <img> elements to achieve a presentational effect that is
currently not possible with just CSS 2.1 (yet may likely be possible in
CSS 3).