Firefox Issue

January 18, 2007 1:49 AM

Why, when I look at an image or news link in firefox, do I not see the whole tooltip/caption (not sure that's the right word, but it's all I can think of)?

When looking at my two favourite web comics, XKCD & Qwantz, if I look at the images in IE, it shows the full humourous caption/tooltip, yet when I view it in Firefox it shows part of the text then....

I hate to use IE, but find myself frustrated and not being able to see the little jokes added as captions?

Is there a reason for this, or an extension that allows me to see them, without having to switch rendering engines, or open them in IE?

posted by the_epicurean to computers & internet (10 comments total)

I think this is because ALT tags are not actually tool tips, but accessibility info and the W3 standard is not to show them by default.

This should do what you want
posted by dance at 1:53 AM on January 18, 2007

Firefox only shows a limited number of characters. If you right-click and select Properties you can then widen the Properties window to see more, but it still won't wrap (not on this Mac's Firefox 2.0.0.1, anyway).
posted by malevolent at 2:15 AM on January 18, 2007

(Oh and as dance says, it correctly doesn't show the 'alt' attribute, but does show 'title')
posted by malevolent at 2:16 AM on January 18, 2007

I was just reading about that on the Mozilla website, it seems that it's the web designers fault adding as ALT tag, whereas it should be a Title tag.

Thanks Dance, it's worked a treat, although I had to go via this link.

http://piro.sakura.ne.jp/xul/_popupalt.html.en#download
posted by the_epicurean at 2:24 AM on January 18, 2007

Sorry, I should add, the above link is for Firefox 2 users.
posted by the_epicurean at 2:25 AM on January 18, 2007

I've been frustrated by the same thing (on XKCD) and what I usually do is select the image, choose "show selection source" and read it in the source code. *ahem*

Not very elegant (and you still have to scroll sideways as it doesn't wrap), but quicker than reloading it in IE (even though I have IE Tab).
posted by ClarissaWAM at 3:19 AM on January 18, 2007

It's not just the ALT tag. I asked a similar question about tooltips and other text-based tags here. The answer: it's a bug.
posted by Brittanie at 3:20 AM on January 18, 2007

@Brittanie

I surfed over to the link you provided and found "DO NOT COMMENT! THIS IS NOT A FIREFOX BUG!" in the bugzilla listing?
posted by dance at 5:21 AM on January 18, 2007

It's not just the ALT tag.
There's another extension for the title tag.

I have both installed, and maybe it's because they interact weirdly but it seems that they don't work 100%. Still, seems to be better than not having them at all.
posted by juv3nal at 9:36 AM on January 18, 2007

dance, try this comment's link. The trouble with extensions is that if you are coding your own website you can't guarantee every user will download the required extension.
posted by Brittanie at 2:40 PM on January 18, 2007