What is Alt Text Helper?

Pick your image type, write alt text with help from type-specific prompts, and check it against an accessibility checklist. Includes tips and examples for screen-reader-friendly descriptions.

Pick from six image types — photograph, icon, chart, decorative, informational, or image link — and the field swaps to a type-specific prompt that nudges you toward what screen-reader users actually need. A live character counter warns when you cross 125 characters, and a six-item checklist verifies the description is specific, concise, context-aware, free of phrases like 'image of', front-loaded with the most important info, and not stuffed with commas or repeated keywords. Decorative images get an alt="" reminder so they stay invisible to assistive tech.

How to use

1. Select the type of image you're describing: photograph, icon, chart, decorative, informational, or image link.
2. Use the prompt for your image type to write a concise description.
3. Review your alt text against the accessibility checklist, then copy it for use in your HTML or CMS.

When to use

• Filling alt attributes on a Shopify or WordPress product gallery before launch.
• Writing alt text for a chart in a quarterly report so screen-reader users get the numbers.
• Auditing an existing site for WCAG 1.1.1 compliance ahead of an accessibility review.

Result

For a bar chart showing Q1 sales: instead of 'chart.png', write 'Bar chart showing Q1 2024 sales by region: North America $2.1M, Europe $1.8M, Asia $1.4M'.

FAQ

Why is alt text considered the most important accessibility attribute?

It's the first WCAG requirement (1.1.1 Non-text Content, Level A) and the one thing a blind screen-reader user runs into on every single page. Skipping it doesn't only hurt accessibility. Search engines and link-preview crawlers read the alt text to caption your images too.

How short should alt text be — is 125 characters a hard limit?

Not technically. Browsers and screen readers handle longer strings fine. The 125-character guideline comes from JAWS, which used to split longer descriptions awkwardly. Newer screen readers don't, but short descriptions are still less tiring to listen to.

What should I do for purely decorative images like dividers or background flourishes?

Use alt="" (an empty string), not alt with no value at all. Empty alt tells screen readers to skip the image. Leaving alt off entirely makes some screen readers read out the filename, which is worse than nothing.

How do I describe a complex chart in 125 characters?

Lead with the chart type and the headline finding, not every data point. 'Line chart, mobile users overtook desktop in Q3 2024' is better than a list of monthly numbers. For full data, link a longer text description elsewhere on the page.

Should I include words like 'photo of' or 'image of' at the start?

No. Screen readers already announce that they're reading an image, so 'image of a cat' becomes 'image, image of a cat'. Start with the subject directly: 'A grey cat on a blue couch'. The checklist in this tool flags this pattern automatically.

Related Tools