Length of title attribute

[DU]

I am looking for opinions on the issue of length of title attribute.
First of all, the current HTML 4.01 spec is rather vague on this
issue... at least, it isn't explicit nor normative.

The HTML 4.01 spec and WAI mention "short message", "short description",
"advisory title", "informative link title" for the title attribute.
Personally, I think that having a more than 128 characters tooltip does
not meet the original goals of the HTML 4.01 spec. and is not a good
webpage design decision.

DU
--
The site said to use Internet Explorer 5 or better... so I switched to
Firefox 1.0.4 :)

[Philip Ronan]

"DU" wrote:

I am looking for opinions on the issue of length of title attribute.
First of all, the current HTML 4.01 spec is rather vague on this
issue... at least, it isn't explicit nor normative.

The Macintosh version of IE can only show 48 characters. Any more than that
and it truncates the title to 45 characters and sticks "..." on the end.

Other browsers only seem to be limited by the number of characters that fit
across the top of the window, AFAICT.

--
phil [dot] ronan @ virgin [dot] net
http://vzone.virgin.net/phil.ronan/

[Kim André Akerø]

"DU" <dr*******@hotNOSPAMmail.com> skrev i melding
news:3f************@uni-berlin.de...

I am looking for opinions on the issue of length of title attribute.
First of all, the current HTML 4.01 spec is rather vague on this
issue... at least, it isn't explicit nor normative.

The HTML 4.01 spec and WAI mention "short message", "short description",
"advisory title", "informative link title" for the title attribute.
Personally, I think that having a more than 128 characters tooltip does
not meet the original goals of the HTML 4.01 spec. and is not a good
webpage design decision.

Although the specs ARE vague describing the length for the title attribute,
it's just a general guide. There is no set maximum length, but you have to
take into consideration your visitors on this matter.

Compare the textual content of this attribute to the <title> element, or
even the "Subject" field in your e-mail and/or Usenet messages. Provide a
short explanation/description of the instance of the element you're using it
with, and don't overdo it.

Not all so-called "web designers" take this into consideration, as their
egos expand beyond the comprehension of what other people (ie. the visitors)
might consider a good website experience.

--
Kim André Akerø
- ki******@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)

[Kim André Akerø]

"Philip Ronan" <in*****@invalid.invalid> skrev i melding
news:BEBD4C37.32236%in*****@invalid.invalid...

"DU" wrote:

I am looking for opinions on the issue of length of title attribute.
First of all, the current HTML 4.01 spec is rather vague on this
issue... at least, it isn't explicit nor normative.
The Macintosh version of IE can only show 48 characters. Any more than

that and it truncates the title to 45 characters and sticks "..." on the end.

Other browsers only seem to be limited by the number of characters that fit across the top of the window, AFAICT.

The OP was talking about the title ATTRIBUTE, not the title ELEMENT. Quick
reminder about the differences:

title attribute:
<span title="Hello, this is my description">of this text</span>

title element:
<title>Place page title here</title>

--
Kim André Akerø
- ki******@NOSPAMbetadome.com
(remove NOSPAM to contact me directly)

[David Ross]

DU wrote:

I am looking for opinions on the issue of length of title attribute.
First of all, the current HTML 4.01 spec is rather vague on this
issue... at least, it isn't explicit nor normative.

The HTML 4.01 spec and WAI mention "short message", "short description",
"advisory title", "informative link title" for the title attribute.
Personally, I think that having a more than 128 characters tooltip does
not meet the original goals of the HTML 4.01 spec. and is not a good
webpage design decision.

While the tooltip from a TITLE attribute that is the width of a
maximized window might be considered too long, there is no specific
limit in the HTML specification

There is a Mozilla bug (likely in Firefox, too) that tooltips in
general do not wrap. This affects the TITLE attribute. In
Mozilla, the tooltip for a TITLE attribute on an IMG element will
appear at the right of the window if the image itself is at the
right. The same is true for a TITLE attribute on a link (<A> </A>)
that appears near the right margin of the text. Although a tooltip
might be less than half the width of the window, Mozilla truncates
it at about the 90th character.

See the bug report at
<URL:https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45375>.

--

David E. Ross
<URL:http://www.rossde.com/>

I use Mozilla as my Web browser because I want a browser that
complies with Web standards. See <URL:http://www.mozilla.org/>.