Draft alt text from the image’s purpose, not everything AI can name
Choose informative, functional or decorative treatment, write the needed meaning and verify it in the page’s actual context.
In brief
Alternative text should communicate the image’s purpose in the page. A model’s exhaustive object list may be less useful than a short description of the fact the reader needs.
Use AI as a draft aid and inspect the image and surrounding content yourself.
Describe the needed information
For a troubleshooting screenshot, explain the relevant error or selected setting rather than listing every icon. If the same information is already fully in nearby text and the image adds no meaning, review whether decorative treatment is appropriate. Do not stuff search keywords into the attribute.
Describe function when it is a control
An image acting as a link or button needs the action or destination conveyed. “Blue rectangle” does not explain a download button. Check whether a visible text label already supplies an accessible name so the final control is not confusingly duplicated.
Verify the draft
Remove colours, identities or text the model guessed. For a chart, keep the essential conclusion available in the page and provide data or a fuller description where necessary. Follow W3C’s decision tree rather than assuming every image needs a long sentence.
Before you act
Decorative images can need empty alt text; linked or button images need their function. Complex charts may require a nearby fuller explanation beyond a short attribute.
What to do next
- Identify what the image contributes to this page and whether it is functional or decorative.
- Draft the meaning needed by someone who cannot see it.
- Check the actual image, surrounding text and link purpose, removing invented details.
