What is the ALT Attribute?

The alt attribute is an attribute of the img tag and is meant to be an alternative for non-visual browsers when they come across images. This means, that the text is meant to be used when the image is not visible on the page. Instead, what is displayed (or read) is the alternative text.Alternative text, commonly known as ALT tags or ALT attributes are used to present to the viewer when graphics are turned off, or the browser is not graphics capable.

This can happen with hand held browsers, where the viewer has low bandwidth capabilities and so elects not to use graphics, or where there is assistive technology such as screen readers or Braille displays.

Many browsers also display the alt text when the customer rests their mouse on the image. This means that the text should be clear and easy to read and not create a huge popup nightmare for any reader pausing their mouse on your page.

The XHTML has made the alt attribute of images required. So to write valid XHTML you must have the alt attribute and it must have text describing the image inside it.

JohnMu from Google explained how to use the alt attribute:

The ALT attribute should be used to describe the image. So if you have an image of a big blue pineapple chair you should use the alt tag that best describes it, which is alt=”big blue pineapple chair”

I’ll quote John from Google now:

As the Googlebot does not see the images directly, we generally concentrate on the information provided in the “alt” attribute. Feel free to supplement the “alt” attribute with “title” and other attributes if they provide value to your users!

So for example, if you have an image of a puppy (these seem popular at the moment ) playing with a ball, you could use something like “My puppy Betsy playing with a bowling ball” as the alt-attribute for the image.

ALT attributes are particularly helpful in search engine optimization because the search engine spiders rely on the ALT attributes to determine the attributes of the graphics or of the object referenced. The ALT attributes were widely used in the early days of Internet growth, since many people did not have graphics capability. Even though we take graphics as a matter of course today, the ALT attributes are extremely helpful to those with accessibility requirements.

ALT text must be carefully chosen to convey the intent of the image being used, or to accurately describe the image. An image declaration with the ALT text of “button” for example is of no use to the end user; the same holds true for ALT text such as “bicycle” or “dog”; they may accurately describe the image, but they do not convey the intent of the image. Better examples would be:

<img src=”../filename.jpg” alt=”” /> or,

The use of square brackets around ALT text is recommended, especially if/when the alternative text may lead to confusion when read in conjunction with surrounding text.Using square brackets ([]) often helps differentiate an image’s ALT text from the paragraph text; text only browsers will render the brackets and, depending on user settings, they will be announced in screen reader software.

For example:

when used in a paragraph block, might read like:

“When I was a young boy, I was inseparable from my dog, and best friend, Rover. [Photo - My Pet dog Rover, a Labrador Retriever] We could be seen every day, walking down the street on the way to Mr. Hooper’s store.”

Without the presence of the square brackets around the ALT text, the paragraph would make little sense.`

Now go check your images for alt text that truly helps the search engines and those less fortunate use your site as it is meant to be.

Thanx and remember…Always strive to improve and success will follow
David Knops Jr
DKWebsites LLC

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