RE: ALT as required attribute

Jim:

1. I guess we'll have to disagree on what Mozilla is doing with Alt text.
For my dime, they're doing a better job than Internet Explorer, but we
differ on this. At the very least, since the spec doesn't mandate that Alt
should be provided as a tool-tip, Mozilla isn't running counter to the spec.

2. You are certainly not unique in misunderstanding icons; this is a broad
usability issue with overly graphical nature of many web sites and
applications.  However, I'm still uncomfortable with using Alt text (which
is a text equivalent) to convey the *meaning* of an icon (which is a text
interpretation) when the Title tag is available for this purpose.

3. As long as we can agree that moving towards standards compliance is a
good thing, both for authors and for user agents, then I'll enjoy
disagreeing in small skirmishes on the way down that road. At least the road
is being travelled. 

Best regards,
-Gerard