2026-03-01 · Content
What Missing Alt Text Actually Breaks
By TestAccessibility
Tags: imagesscreen readers
What users experience
Meaningful images without alt may be skipped or read as filenames. Neither is acceptable for charts, product photos, or instructional diagrams.
Decorative images
Mark decorative images with alt="" so assistive technologies ignore them. Silence is the correct output when the image adds no information.
Components
Image buttons need alt or aria-label. Icons inside links should not be the only text unless the link has an accessible name.
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