DRY question - image_tag :alt and :title the same

Rails
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(…) %>

<%= 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

http://rimantas.com/

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

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 @

7

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.