Alt text

General Guidelines

• All images need an alt attribute (alt = " ")
  • What goes inside the alt attribute, between the quotation marks (" "),  is what varies case by case.
• Only images as content need alternative text
  • Don’t provide alternative text for a decorative image such as a line or a flourish.
  • Leave the alt text markup null (empty) for decorative images
• Be succinct
  • Typically no more than a few words should be used and try to use 100 characters at most.
  • If a few words won’t do, then resort to the guidelines for Complex Images.
• Be accurate and equivalent
  • Provide a description of the image in order to present the content.
  • Evaluate what the person choosing the image was trying to achieve by sharing it.
  • Include text that is part of the image
• Do not be redundant:
  • Don't provide the same information as text that is surrounding the image.
  • Never start with “Image of…”, “Photo of…” or “Logo of"
  • If the fact that an image is an illustration or a photograph, as in the case of talking about the work of an artist, then it may be useful to include that fact in the alternative text.