DRY question - image_tag :alt and :title the same

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hello,

I have the following: image_tag('show.png', :alt => 'show article', :title => 'show article', :border => 0)

Is it possible that I don´t need to have "=> 'show article'" twice in this row? e.g. something similar to this pseudo code: (:alt, :title) => 'show article'.

2

Short version: As far as tooltips go, :alt = IE and :title = FF. You’ll need both to display a tooltip across browsers. There are differences between them but I’m not sure if you’re looking for that information so much as “do I need both”. :slight_smile:

RSL

3

short answer, no there is no way to specify the value of 2 attributes the way you describe.

you could write a helper tho

def my_image_tag(source, options = {})   options.symbolize_keys!

  # if there is an alt attribute but no title attribute   options[:title] = options[:alt] if options.has_key?(:alt) && !options.has_key?(:title)

  # if there is a title attribute but no alt attribute   options[:alt] = options[:title] if options.has_key?(:title) && !options.has_key?(:alt)

  # don't change anything if both or none are specified

  image_tag(source, options) end

not tested, but should work, examples below

<%= my_image_tag(..., { :alt => 'alt tag' }) %> <img src="..." alt="alt tag", title="alt tag"/>

<%= my_image_tag(..., { :title => 'title tag' }) %> <img src="..." alt="title tag", title="title tag"/>

<%= my_image_tag(...) %> <img src="..."/>

<%= my_image_tag(..., { :alt => 'alt tag', :title => 'title tag' }) %> <img src="..." alt="alt tag", title="title tag"/>

4

Short version: As far as tooltips go, :alt = IE and :title = FF. You'll need both to display a tooltip across browsers.

<...>

No. IE will display alt attribute as tooltip, Firefox won't (and sholudn't). However, they will both display title attribute. Alt is supposed to be used when image cannot be shown - not available on server, user has disabled images, text-only browser.

Regards, Rimantas

5

Heh. You caught me. I didn’t mention that IE respects :title [because I didn’t think it necessary since I was talking about specifically about tooltips alt vs. title ]. Please don’t embarrass me further by pointing out that other browsers than IE and FF support these tags as well. :wink:

RSL

6

I thought there is a ruby way of doing this. Now I implemented a small plugin which extends ActionView::Base, ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper tag method to have a "single point of change" (DRY) - because I needed it for image_tag, image_submit_tag, etc. Thank you for your help.

7

Further to Rimantas explanation, browser implementation isn't really the issue here as the two attributes are intended for different purposes and setting them to the same value is incorrect; you can find a good outline of the issues @ The alt and title attributes | 456 Berea Street