Do you remember the last time you went to a website and couldn’t see the images? You probably started pounding your keyboard in frustration. No need to do that, as there’s an easy way to make sure that never happens again. In this article, we’ll show you how to check if an image has alt text—and how to add alt text if it doesn’t.
What Is Alt Text and Why It Matters
Alt text, or alternative text, is a short piece of text that describes an image. It’s used to help people who are visually impaired understand the contents of an image. But that’s not all alt text is for. It can also help with SEO, or search engine optimization. When you add alt text to your images, you’re providing Google (and other search engines) with more information about the contents of your images. This can help your website rank higher in search results.
How to Check if an Image Has Alt Text
The best way to check if an image has alt text is to right-click on the image and select “View Image.” This will open the image file on its own, separate from the web page. Once you have the image file open, you can see the text that was entered as the alt text in the “Description” field. If there is no text entered, or if it’s been left blank, then there is no alt text assigned to that image.
How Do You Add Alt Text to Your Images in WordPress?
Well, it can be tricky, but here’s how we do it. Login to your WordPress account and then go to the Media tab from your dashboard. Select the image you want to add the alt text to and then click the “Edit” button. After that, you’ll want to click on the “Gallery” tab. You’ll see an area where you can add the alternate text. Simply write your alt text and then click the “Update File” button. Be sure you don’t forget to do this! It’s an easy way to add more text to your website and attract more people to your website.
Tips for Writing Effective Alt Text
Now that you know how to add alt text to your images, it’s time to learn how to write effective alt text that accurately describes your image. Here are a few tips:
- Keep it short and sweet: Alt text should be brief and to-the-point, no longer than a sentence or two.
- Describe what’s in the image: Make sure your alt text describes what’s in the image, not what the image represents.
- Use keywords: When possible, use keywords that are relevant to the image and your blog post. This will help your images show up in search results.
- Be specific: Don’t just describe the general gist of the image—get specific about what’s happening in the photo or graphic.
- Check for accuracy: Always proofread your alt text for accuracy before publishing your post.
What to Do if an Image Doesn’t Have Alt Text
If you find an image without alt text, don’t panic! It’s a fairly easy fix and the sooner you add the alt text, the better. First things first, you’ll need to open your HTML document and then look for the tag next to the image in question. You can add the alt text within this tag.
For example, if an image is labeled as “dog”, then you would add alt=”dog” to that corresponding tag after adding the file name of course. Once it’s been saved, you can check to see if it’s working properly by simply reloading the page.
Remember that best practice makes sure that your alt text is pulled from material context of your page or image and accurately describes what’s on it. This allows users with accessibility issues like blindness or visual impairment to understand what is on your webpage or in your images easily by reading screen readers.
Tools to Help You Identify and Optimize Your Images
Fortunately, there are tools available to help you quickly identify which images still need alt text, and even optimize your images so they load faster.
The first tool I’d recommend is a Chrome extension called ‘Alt Text Checker’. This plugin helps you easily identify the missing alt text on images, and you can even see how their sizes are impacting page loading speeds.
There are also some great online tools available for optimizing your image size before you upload them to your site. TinyPNG, for instance, allows you to reduce the file size without compromising quality. For larger files (like photos) you could use CompressJPEG or Compressor.io. Both of them offer free options and allow you to quickly compress large images in just a few clicks.
Best Practices for Using Images with Alt Text
Once you’ve taken the time to check for alt text on the images, you’ll want to put some thought into making sure that your images are as accessible as possible. Here are some best practices you should keep in mind.
Firstly, make sure that your image alt text is descriptive and relevant, as it should accurately describe the content and context of the image. If there’s not enough room for a detailed description, don’t be afraid to use multiple lines of alt text for more complex images.
Secondly, avoid using phrases like “image of” or “picture of” in your alt text unless it’s necessary to the context. (For example, if an article talks specifically about an image) Instead, focus on describing what’s actually in the image.
Thirdly, try and use alternative ways to convey information when necessary—for example if a graphic has numbers or data points in it, you can provide this information as part of the alternative text as well!
Benefits of Using Alt Text
Beyond just making your website more accessible for people with disabilities, there are other benefits to using alt text.
For one, having accurately written alt text will help improve your website’s SEO rankings. Search engines like Google rely on the alt text to understand what’s on the image. And the better and more descriptive the alt text, the higher you’ll rank in search engine results.
It also helps paint a clearer picture of what users can expect when they click on your page or scroll through its content. Plus, if an image can’t be displayed, users can still have an idea of what it is that they’re missing. Alt text offers an efficient way to quickly describe an image without going into too much detail – perfect for busy websites or times when loading speed is key.
How to Check for Image Alt Text in Safari
Now let’s move on to Safari. To check for image alt text in this browser, right-click the image and select “Inspect Element.” This will open a new window, and you’ll see the code that looks something like this:
If you see the “alt” property, then that means that the image has alt text associated with it (in this case, it should be “alt text”). If there is no “alt” property present, then the image does not have an alt tag associated with it—so you should create one.
How To Find Alt Tags on Images on Desktop
It’s easy to check if an image has alt text on desktop. All you need to do is right-click on the image and select “Inspect” from the menu. Then, look for the line of code that contains the alt text. It should look something like this: If there’s no alt text, it will just be and that’s it. If you need to add some, all you have to do is edit the line of code and add your own description of the image between the quotation marks in the “alt” attribute.
How To Check Alt Text of An Image on Mobile
Finally, if you’re checking whether an image has alt text on a mobile device, the method is slightly different. What you want to do here is open up the image in a separate tab. On most mobile devices, you can right-click or long-press the image and then select ‘Open Image in New Tab.’
Once the image is open in a separate tab, go to your browser’s ‘inspect element’ feature. This feature should allow you to view the source code of the page, and you should be able to find a section labeled ‘alt’ or ‘alt text.’ This will let you know if there is any alt text associated with the image.
If there isn’t any alt text present or if it looks incomplete, your next step would be to add appropriate alternate text for that image yourself. This will ensure that your website complies with accessibility standards and helps people who rely on screen readers understand what each page contains.
FAQs
The process of checking for an image’s alt text can be confusing, so we’ve collected some frequently asked questions to help you out.
What is the main purpose of alt text?
Alt text provides information about an image, such as what it shows and why it’s important, to assistive technologies, such as screen readers. This helps make sure that everyone can access your digital content.
What if I have multiple images on a page?
You need to check each image individually, making sure that they each have descriptive and informative alt text. For example, if one image is of a sunset and another is of a beach, both need different descriptions that accurately reflect what’s on them.
Is there any way to automate the process?
You can use accessibility plugins or tools like Wave or Ax to automatically scan for and identify any images without an accurate alt text description and then make the necessary changes. However, it’s still important to double-check them manually by following the steps outlined in this guide.
Conclusion
So, now you know how to check if an image has alt text. It’s not a difficult process, but it’s important to make sure that all your images have alt text so that people who can’t see the image still know what’s going on. If you have any questions, or need any help on how to see alt text of an image, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professional.
