Alt text stands for “Alternative text”. Simply put, alt text is a brief description of an image that explains the images quickly. So, even if you can’t view an image, you will have a clear idea of what the image is all about, through alt text.

People with visual impairments may not be able to see the content of a website. They use a screen reader to access the information of a website. Hence, adding alt text to all images is a must to ensure a seamless experience for these users.

Below are some easy tips to write good alt text for accessibility. So, let’s dive in!

10 Tips to Write Good Alt Text for Best Accessibility Practices
Here are some quick tips and accessibility best practices to write alt text:

1. Being specific is the key
When you are writing an alt text, you are simply describing the image. Remember to stay as specific as possible. Alt text is not a place for you to show your writing skill. An alt text aims to explain the purpose of an image to people with visual disabilities.

So, the more brief and specific the alt text is, the better. A few words are enough to describe an image most of the time. In fact, people with visual impairment and cognitive disabilities use a screen reader that trims down around 125 characters of an alt text. So, it is better to stick to maintaining the brief character limit.

However, it is necessary to use long alt texts to describe complex images. But then again, those are exceptional cases.

2. Stay informative
The goal of an alt text is to convey the information within a picture. So, the first rule of thumb is that your alt texts have to be as informative as possible. Let me break this down with an example:


Source

What should ideally be the alt text for this image?

Different challenges of providing marketing ROI

That’s a brief and specific alt text. So, when a person with a disability comes across it, there will be no confusion about understanding the image and what it is all about.

3. Don’t use phrases like “Image of..”
We often come across alt texts that start like this – “Image of..”. This is actually frustrating for people using screen readers, since the software already announces that it is an image.

Also, when you are using such phrases, you run the risk of exceeding the number of characters. The screen reader already trims down 125 characters from the alt texts. So, with the remaining characters, you would want to fulfill the purpose of the alt text that is describing the image.

4. Don’t be repetitive
You don’t need an alt text if it is a repetitive version of what’s already in a web page. This will save developers’ time and let them focus more on other avenues of development. So, don’t spend time on writing something similar, that’s already there in the web page.

For furthur reading : https://advancedbytez.com/write-good-alt-text-for-accessibility/