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Start your free trialJackie Jen
2,723 PointsWhat does the <img alt=""> mean
Hello,
I have no idea on what is the attribute of alt="". although nick explain on the video but i still can't get it. can someone please give me an example?
Thanks
4 Answers
Stone Preston
42,016 Pointsalt text is read by screenreaders (Jaws is a popular one) that are used by people with visual impairments (its also used by search engine bots etc but the main audience is people with visual impairments). They have trouble viewing (or cant view) the image itself, so the screen reader reads off the alt text that is specified for that image tag. Alt text is usually some descriptive text about the image. see here for more information.
for example, If I had a picture on my site of Sir Paul Mccartney, my img tag might look something like this:
<img src="paulmccartney.jpg" alt="Sir Paul Mccartney, The Beatles bassist and singer">
Mohammed Jammeh
37,463 PointsYou use the alt attribute to describe the image, it's like a caption. For example, let's say you are using a Twitter logo in your page, the alt attribute of image will be "Twitter's Logo". The reason why images have images have alt attributes is so that people who have visual impairments can use their screen readers to read the description of the image. I hope that helps.
Jackie Jen
2,723 Pointshi Thanks for the info.
when images in web browser, screen reader use to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen to avoid visual impairments. Alternative text (alt) ensures that no information or functionality is lost.
did you know why alt = ""? since alt function is to ensure no information or functionality lost
regards
Stone Preston
42,016 Pointssometimes when building a site you may just use an empty string as alt text and go back and fill it in later.
Jackie Jen
2,723 PointsThanks Preston & Jammeh. i get it now. really appreciated it