As user is waiting for the image to download, the user sees something on the page. If the user is visually or physically disabled and uses a speech enabled browser, this text tells them what the graphic is about. This is really important for graphics used as a link. They have no idea what Image1.gif means. Remember, text in a graphic is NOT accessible to everyone.
Alternate text shows up in the newest browsers as text popup.
The Sample Page uses a graphic for its background. Please read the cautions in next section on using colors in a page. On the main HTML page, there is a section where you can try out various backgrounds and text colors to see how using this in a page can have some unexpected results. We welcome your comments and questions .