Brochure Image ALT Tags

[Kris]

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night,

I was just doing some "spring" cleaning on the site and noticed that the product image ALT tags on our front page are empty.

Having looked at our template, I see no way to edit "NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURE_IMAGE" so that it uses the brochure fragment title or product title as the ALT tag.

Can anyone shed any light on my 'ickle problem?

Cheers

[I-CC]

The brochure image doesnt seem to include alt tags.

From a quick look within the templates and conducting a search witin Design | Text, it is not obvioulsy aparent how to add in Alt Tags yourself, so maybe this is produced within the EXE of the program as opposed to templated.

Any ideas anyone from Actinic.

[pinbrook]

the brochure image is defined like this...........in Act_brochureimage.html

<IMG SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEFILE"
ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:ALTERNATETEXT"
BORDER=0
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH>



you could try defining the alt tag with the fragment title

ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURE_TITLE"

Haven't tried it though

[I-CC]

Thought this template was for the brochure navigation menu images and not central content area images produced by selection of fragment templates with image definitions.

[pinbrook]

There is a Act_BrochureImage.html and Act_BrochureNavImage.html

but we'll only know if we try it.....or someone else does

[Kris]

I'll take a look at it tomorrow and will post back from work.

Thanks.

[Kris]

Didn't work. :(

Actinic any ideas???

[Kris]

Or anyone else I should add...

[I-CC]

If you are talking about the images that are shown from selecting the appropriate Brochure Fragment (that includes an image) that is then selected from using the Browse button within that Fragment - Then I do not think you can easily at the moment add in an Alt Text to it.

If the Act_BrochureImage.html is supposed to do it, then it doesnt work, which means a fix is needed within a Patch.

[Kris]

I think that your explanation matches mine... sorta. ;)

I agree this should be included in the next availble patch if it's not possible to do this manually.

Can someone from Actinic give a definative reply?

[cdicken]

Here's a definitive reply:

I'm afraid that there is no way to get Alt tags in for your brochure images at the moment.

It has been reported as a bug, but missed out on being included in 6.1.3. It will be in the next maintenance release.

It is possible to create a default ALT tag for all your brochure images (to at least get some alt information in there).

Open Act_BrochureImage.html and change the ALT= value to be
ALT="CUSTOMVAR:BROCHURE_IMAGE"

Then define a new custom property in 'Advanced | Custom Properties' called 'brochure image'.

Then go to 'Design | Options | Site Defaults' and define a value for 'brochure image' of whatever you want your ALT text to be. Ensure you also tick 'Use as CUSTOMVAR' if you are using Business or Developer.

[Kris]

Thanks, I'll do this for now and look forward to the next update.

Cheers & have a good weekend.

[jxm28788]

:confused: I'm confused (more than normal)


Here's a definitive reply
I'm afraid that there is no way to get Alt tags in for your brochure images at the moment.:

When I hover the cursor over my product images I get a little tag up saying what it is called and when I look at the source the ALT tag has the same text in it (I'm assuming the alt tag is what causes the tag to pop up). The description ties in with the product description (as you would expect).

So in your quote above are you talking about different images? I'm talking about the images assigned to products and sections.

What I do need to do however is to set an ALT tag for the image on my home page. In Actinic this is under the 'home' section, in the welcome page ('fragment properties?'). (On my website - www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk - it is the big colourful logo!)

So how do I do that?

[Kris]

The answer you seek is the question I pose. ;)

[jxm28788]

:o sorry, long day, was searching old posts before starting a new one, didn't read it properly...

however, I'm still not sure about this bit -

It is possible to create a default ALT tag for all your brochure images (to at least get some alt information in there).

ALL the brochure images? Can cdicken please explain what is covered by the phrase 'brochure images'...?

and did you try the suggestion? and did it work?

[cdicken]

ALL the brochure images? Can cdicken please explain what is covered by the phrase 'brochure images'...? At the moment, if you specify any images within the 'Image' field within a brochure fragment, then the image will appear, but there will be no ALT text for the images.

Alt text is included with an 'alt=' parameter within an image <img> tag. It shows up as 'tool-tip'-type text when you move your mouse over an image.

The tip I gave means that every brochure fragment image in Actinic will have the same alt text.

[harlequin]

the brochure image is defined like this...........in Act_brochureimage.html

<IMG SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEFILE"
ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:ALTERNATETEXT"
BORDER=0
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH>



you could try defining the alt tag with the fragment title

ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURE_TITLE"

Haven't tried it though

hi jo, you actually had the answer to this but just not quite...

the thing is, just like in the products area, on the imagefile, you cannot use most netquotevars (pain in the butt, why cant ALL netquotevars be available to all templates...anyway)

the workaround is on your brochure fragment where it calls

NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURE_IMAGE

just replace that nq'var with the code out of the image template...i.e.

<IMG SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEFILE"
ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:BROCHURE_TEXT"
BORDER=0
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH>

now THATS a definitive answer...

ps. if actinic made customvars specifiable on a page by page basis like in the products area you could have


<IMG SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEFILE"
ALT="CUSTOMVAR:ALTTAG"
BORDER=0
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH>

or

<IMG SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEFILE"
ALT="CUSTOMVAR:ALTTAG-2"
BORDER=0
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT
NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH>

which allows you to make a far more descriptive alt tag than simply repeating the text....its better for the search engines too to have as little repeated text as possible...

best of luck..

steve q
harlequin domains
www.harlequindomains.com
0800 0832077
Actinic Hosting, Design and Marketing

[cdicken]

ps. if actinic made customvars available to brochure pages, you could have

Custom Properties defined in 'Design | Options | Site Defaults' are available in every brochure page.

[harlequin]

yes, but not so you can define them at the fragment level.

yes, you can do it as you say but for every single alt tag you would want to use on a any brochure page, you would need to create a named one at advanced level, then specify its value in defaults...then have a seperate brochure template that specifically called that named alt tag....

far better to specify at the top level you have

CUSTOMVAR:BROCHUREALTTAG


and then, next to the fragment in question, you have a tab similar to products for properties and you add a property called CUSTOMVAR:BROCHUREALTTAG and populate a value....like you would in the products area...

much simpler i think

am i making sense.


steve

[harlequin]

probably for the sake of it i would advise people to simply start to understand how to create and use embedded html in the fragments / all of actinic

this overcomes all issues regarding formatting, placement, display, colours, list points, heading tags, alt tags and is the most frequent reliable method we use, save creating a load of custom templates as well..


steve

[Kris]

I think he means one ALT tag for each image (dependant on template used to insert each brochure image not dependant on the individual product).