Decorative or Informative? How to Decide Whether an Image Needs Alt Text
An image needs meaningful alt text when it contributes information, communicates a function or helps users understand the surrounding content.
A Description Can Be Accurate and Still Get the Image Wrong.
Alt text, captions and audio descriptions shape how people experience visual content without seeing it. Alt Lines examines the decisions behind useful descriptions, shows how to improve machine-generated text, and explains where automated descriptions become incomplete, misleading or simply unnecessary. Every recommendation starts with the image, its context and the person who needs the description.
Alt Text Style Guide
How Long Should Alt Text Be? Examples From 20 to 200 Characters
Alt text should be as long as necessary to communicate an image's relevant information, but no longer.
Before and After
Describing People Without Guessing: Identity, Age and Mood in Alt Text
Alt text should distinguish visible evidence from assumptions about the person in a photograph.
Machine-Generated Alt Text on Product Photos: Ten Edits and Why Each Was Needed
Machine-generated alt text for product photographs can provide a starting point, but it should not be published without checking product identity, visible features, context and relevance.
Captions and Transcripts
Captions, Transcripts and Audio Description: A Plain-English Comparison
Captions, transcripts and audio description solve different access problems.
Screen Reader Walkthroughs
A Screen Reader Walkthrough of a Photo-Led Character Platform: What Was Checked and What Was Not
A screen reader walkthrough of a photo-led character platform should examine more than whether images have alternative text.
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