Forum OpenACS Q&A: Mac and showing Tool Tips

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1: Mac and showing Tool Tips
Posted by MaineBob OConnor on 09/27/02 04:08 PM

Yes, this is offtopic for OpenACS but I know there are some great developers here that are Mac users!

My friend John uses a PowerBook G3 with OS 9.0.4. He has been using Netscape 4.7 and has not been able to see the Tool Tips when browsing any website. Tooltips are those balloon help messages that appear over pictures. When you mouse over the pic it shows the ALT text for a few seconds. We thought it was a Netscape/Mac thing even though my PC version of Netscape shows the tooltips. John just upgraded to Netscape 7 and still doesn't see the tooltips. This leads me to believe that it is an OS or mouse (trackpad) issue.

Can anyone suggest how to turn on this feature?

TIA
-Bob

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2: Response to Mac and showing Tool Tips (response to 1)
Posted by Jonathan Ellis on 09/27/02 06:32 PM
that's alt text -- IIRC netscape < 6 wouldn't show it unless images are turned off.  which is how it was intended to be used, IMO.  Dunno about newer versions -- google for netscape & alt text. :)
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3: Response to Mac and showing Tool Tips (response to 1)
Posted by MaineBob OConnor on 09/27/02 07:00 PM
Hi Jonathan,

That Google tip was just what I needed! The first result of 'netscape "alt text"' returned this great link:

www.macromedia.com/support/dreamweaver/ts/documents/alt_attribute.htm

The workaround for most browsers, PC and Mac is to use the <...title="xxx"...> in addition to the Alt. Thanks.

-Bob