I basically have an image slideshow using the Cycle Plugin.

<div id="#"><a href=" "><img src=" " alt=" " /></a>
</div>

What I have also done is used:
jQuery('#captiontext').html(this.alt);

To display the current slide's alt text. However, the entire slideshow works properly but since I wrapped each slide with an a href link, it does not display the alt text.

CODE USED:

jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery('#mainfeat').cycle({
    fx: 'fade',
    speed: 500,
    timeout: 7000,
    pager: '#mainfeatnav',
    after: function() {
    jQuery('#feattext').html(this.alt);
}
    });
});

ALT TEXT:

alt="<strong>blah blah blah</strong>"