Is text-indent: -9999px a bad technique for replacing text with images, and what are the alternatives?

Question

This article say we should avoid using this technique. This one says it\'s awesome. Is it true that Google looks inside CSS files for text-indent: -9999px; and

Answer 1

Well there is an alternative (which I use quite frequently).

do Stuff

You can change span to strong/h1 etc. based on context.

.mybutton{
  background: transparent url(images/SpriteWithButtons.png) no-repeat 20px 20px;
  display: block;
  width: 16px;
  height: 16px;
}
.mybutton span{
    display: none;
}