Using sprites with IMG tag?

Solution 1:

Using sprites doesn't necessarily mean you need to define them in css backgrounds. You can also use IMG tag sprites, to do so you need basically trim your image. There are two good articles explaining that technique:

http://tjkdesign.com/articles/how-to_use_sprites_with_my_Image_Replacement_technique.asp

http://www.artzstudio.com/2010/04/img-sprites-high-contrast/

Both CSS and IMG methods sure have their own benefits, so you need to figure out which one suits you better.

Solution 2:

About semantical correctness:

When an image has semantical meaning, so it is considered to be content, use an IMG tag, without sprites, and a correctly set up ALT.

When an image is just decoration, like the background of a box, background of a button, background of a menu option, etc., it has no semantical meaning, so you can just use it as a background of a SPAN, DIV, etc. from CSS. You can use sprites in this case.

Solution 3:

I use a 1x1 transparent gif (so called spacer) for the src. then set the background image for that img tag with the corresponding bg position. this way you're utilizing the speed of sprites and keeping the semantic of your code (you can still use the alt attribute)

Solution 4:

I could always use a SPAN or other tag and set the background/width/etc but it won't be semantically correct

Actually there is nothing wrong about using CSS to set the background of a span or div. It would actually be incorrect syntactically to omit the src from an image, as that is the whole point of the tag. There is nothing in the standards saying you have to put text inside a span. Syntactically speaking, modifying the background on an element would be the most "correct" way to do it.

Here is the ref on img tags over at W3C: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/objects.html#h-13.2

And a little extra reading: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#h-7.5.3

These elements define content to be inline (SPAN) or block-level (DIV) but impose no other presentational idioms on the content. Thus, authors may use these elements in conjunction with style sheets, the lang attribute, etc., to tailor HTML to their own needs and tastes.