asp1

I am struggling to decide which is better to use for title images. At the moment i tend to use something like With the text removed and h2 displayed as an image with CSS.

However, this means that the titles become invisible to anyone with images turned off, or if for any reason the image can't be found.

Why do so many people recommend using CSS for this as opposed to using an img alt tag?

DaWei

You want to read recommendations, but you never want to turn your own rational brain off. A huge amount of internet content is acolytes echoing uncosidered opinions of those who have set themselves up as gurus and high-priests, and other bullshit.

I don't know why you want an image as a title (I can conceive of a few reasons, not many), but if you do, what's wrong with putting it in a image tag and having alt content for accessibility? After all, you can put the image tag inside another entity if you want to, and style away on the parent, if that's what flips your baton.

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titaniumdecoy

You might try something similar to the following.

On your web page, separate the <h1> and <img> tags:

In your stylesheet, add:

The CSS property display:none is compatible with all modern browsers, so if your stylesheet does not load, humans will be able to read your page's title. And CSS or no, your page will be much more appealing to search engines.

a thing

I don't get why you'd use an image for a title. Text works fine.

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asp1

I partially agree with your first statement which is why the question arose.
The reason for using images for titles is purely for design, the argument for using css to display the title image is for SEO.
Neither way will achieve total accessiblility, the desired graphical appearance and high search engine ranking, so i am really looking for opinions as to which method is the best compomise or whether there is any workaround.

titaniumdecoy - Thank you for your suggestion, it looks like this may be the best possibility.

Polyphemus_

Not in all cases. There can be a unique and/or commercial font be used, which the user doesn't have, or there may be some additional make-up needed to create a more funkier design.
Look at the forum skin: the header is an image as well.