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Question About Alternative Text

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From: Drip Jutsu
Date: Aug 4, 2020 8:35PM

Hi All,



I have been an accessibility specialist for some time now, but there are moments in which I feel lost in how to address certain things. I understand the guidelines, but there are always cases in which I believe it comes down to the designers and developers.



One question that I have always had is, are we supposed to provide alt text for images that are not necessarily decorative, that is, they are not only existent for visual design reasons, but are not necessarily informative and do not convey information important for the website user. An example I have is, let's say there is an article that discusses the importance of classroom rules, and in the article, there is a picture of students in a classroom. The image of students in a classroom is not important for understanding the article as a whole or any context within the article. One could argue that the image is important for the visual user to empathize with a classroom setting, but I am not sure where to stand on this topic. I typically add alternative text to all images unless it is very clearly decorative.



Best,

An Accessibility Specialist