Provide meaningful alt text for images
Approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide have vision impairment. Screen readers read the alt attribute aloud—without meaningful alt text, users who are blind receive no information about image content. Missing alt text also fails WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1, which is a Level A (minimum) requirement. Search engines also rely on alt text to index image content.
Quick Reference
- Every
<img>must have analtattribute—omitting it entirely violates WCAG 2.1 SC 1.1.1 - Decorative images use
alt=""so screen readers ignore them - Alt text should describe the image's purpose, not just its appearance
- Linked images: alt describes the link destination, not the visual
Check
Scan all <img> elements in the codebase. Verify: 1) Every <img> has an alt attribute (missing alt is an error). 2) Decorative images use alt="". 3) Informative images have descriptive text that conveys the image's meaning—not just its file name. 4) Images that are links describe the destination. 5) Images of text reproduce the text in alt. Flag any <img> without alt, with alt matching the filename (e.g., alt="photo1.jpg"), or with generic values like alt=…
