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From: gg@superdec.uni.uiuc.edu (gg)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.ascii,alt.ascii-art
Subject: Talk: WWW text
Date: 16 Mar 1995 15:14:03 -0600
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is94drj@brunel.ac.uk (DR J) writes:

>In case you hadn't noticed, WWW pages are becoming the latest 'in-thing'
>on the InterNet.

>Most of the pages are full of Gif files and only look good on graphical
>browsers like Netscape or Mosaic. However, not everyone uses graphical
>browsers to read WWW pages, many people use text-only browsers such
>as Lynx.

And those of us who believe in our the power of the vt100 and still use
it instead of Mosaic or Netscape over a SLIP connection, 'cuz it's so
much faster.

>When Lynx sees a Gif file, it simply puts up the word [IMAGE] and
>continues. However when writing a Web page, you are allowed to add
>the command ALT="" after all your Gif files. This allows Lynx to
>display whatever appears inbetween the quotation marks instead of just
>[IMAGE].

That's because the authors too lazy and/or incompetent... You can give
a text alternative (for browsers that aren't graphical (read: lynx))
for the picture with the following:

<IMG SRC="Back.gif" ALT="Back">

or in your cutsie arrows:

<IMG SRC="Back.gif' ALT="[<-]">

But what I want to know is how to make a multi line alternative, so we
can replace the pictures with cute ascii representations.

>Where does Ascii-Art come in? Well, many WWW pages often contain similar
>graphic buttons, such as bullet points, 'next' and 'back' buttons,
>sound file buttons and the like.

>What I am suggesting is that the Ascii-artists should get together and
>suggest 'standard' text replacements for the most common graphic images.

>Here are a couple of suggestions:

>[<-] back
>[->] next

Realtime image interpretation?  It's too much of a pain.