Interactive World News » Writing good alt text

Writing good alt text

I do quite a bit of quality assurance work, specifically looking at the accessibility and web standards use of websites. In many cases I make remarks about the use of alternative text for images and other graphic elements. It is, not surprisingly, common for alternative text to be completely absent, but it is probably even more common to see inappropriate use of the alt attribute. In most cases this is caused by well-meaning people using the alt attribute to describe the image itself instead of the function it has or the content it presents. Two rules of thumb I use when writing alt text for images are these: If you were to describe the document to someone over the phone, would you mention the image or its content? If you would, the image probably needs an alternative text. If not, it should probably have an empty alt attribute. Does the alternative text of any images in the document make sense if you turn off the display of images in your web browser? If not, change the alternative text so it does make sense and does not provide redundant information. These are just rules of thumb and there are exceptions, but as a general rule I have found that they work well. In practice this means that images should often have empty alt text, alt="". Be aware though that if the image is within a link that does not also contain descriptive text, the image needs an alt text that describes the link. Much more detailed instructions for writing alt text are available in an article at WebAIM called Appropriate Use of Alternative Text.Posted in (X)HTML, Accessibility.
Publication date: 2008-11-12

More news from 2008-11-12

Writing good alt text

New Flip Mino now with HD

Pure Digital has announced an HD version of its successful Flip Mino camcorder. The new Flip MinoHD weighs a bit over 3 oz, can record up to 60 minutes of HD video (720p) on its 4GB of internal memory, and features FlipShare, a built-in software application that lets you drag-and-drop your videos for organizing, editing [...]
Publication date: 2008-11-12 more

Virgin Mobile releases strong 3Q08 results

It was a big quarter for Virgin Mobile USA, according to the company’s third quarter earnings report. First, the company reported the completion of the acquisition of Helio whose financial results were included in the Virgin Mobile USA’s results beginning on August 22nd. The company also reported that subscriber net growth was up 6% year [...]
Publication date: 2008-11-12 more

More news from 2008-11-12

Categories:

Sources:

Archive:

Archive - see all

Term glossary

Writing good alt text

More news from 2008-11-12