14 thoughts on “Bad ALT”

  7. Simon: It’s interesting that you’re quoting yourself exactly one year to the day, but your belief that alt tag text should exactly replicate image text (with “no exceptions to this rule”) is wrong.

    The alt text should be written to best convey the meaning of the image it describes. In the case of the thank you note, a one line description of the note works just as well and cuts down on the time screen readers would need to spend on the image (for blind readers).

    What I would say is a bad example of alt text on that page is when your rule is followed. There’s an image on the right which says “Peek a boo. I see you.” Its alt text is also “Peek a boo. I see you.” Does this make any sense to someone who can’t see the peeking being done?

    (Here’s one example backing up my opinion from this page)

    The alternate text need not be identical with the text in the image. Sometimes the communicative purpose even requires some modifications. For example, in a list of entries, an image with the word “New” in front of each new entry might work well; it would be evident from the appearance that the image is a special symbol. In speech or text-only presentation, things could be different: if alt=”New” were used, the word “New” might be misunderstood as part of the entry text. Thus, alt=”(new)” or even alt=”New entry:” might work better.

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  8. I think since the image was a purely decorative way to send the message in the “note” alt text that copied the image text exactly would have been appropiate. Even better would have been a blank alt with the text of the note recreated in plain text after the image. The definitive text is of course chapter six of Joe Clark’s book, the full text of which is available online:

    http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter06.html

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  9. Also Bill, the peeking image you link to is not the same one as the image with the “I see you” alt text, they seem to be split up into two images with appropiate text for each. The image could have a better alternative representation than “Cameron’s oldest son, Everest” but clearly the effort is in the right direction there.

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  10. Matt: good point on both accounts. But is it really a “good example of bad alt text”? It seems more like a “good example of alt text which should be modified slightly but still does a pretty damn good job of conveying the idea of the image”

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  12. Nice find Arvind.

    Bill, you’re right. Arvind’s link puts into perspective how bad it can be. I was surprised that the text from the image wasn’t recreated in the alt but it’s still better than the vast majority of what else is out there on the web. The last 10% from good to great may seem trivial, but I think it’s important or otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything. If this discussion made one person view source and think a little harder next time they write alt text, then it’s worth it. I know I’m paying more attention now.

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  13. I’d be happy to regard Joe Clark’s guide as “definitive” if only his own alt text wasn’t so frequently nonsensical.

    For example: “… ‘You can’t possibly be serious’ is my response to most of the provided colour combinations, one of which is actually green and hot pink. Green-and-pink control screen. Worse, most of the other colour combinations use at least one bright hue, which is a problem two ways …” Huh? What’s that stray “Green-and-pink control screen.” doing there? It’s not even a complete sentence.

    alt="" would have produced the more sensible: “”… ‘You can’t possibly be serious’ is my response to most of the provided colour combinations, one of which is actually green and hot pink. Worse, most of the other colour combinations use at least one bright hue, which is a problem two ways …”

    Another example: “Rather as in Britanski Queer as Folk, I have seen the dead man’s apartment in this building. He was 74, and of his detritus, the following extruded tray was the most tragic. Extruded plastic tray, with a Christmas-bell design, leans against rolled-up carpet.” Huh? What’s with the sudden change of tense? And what does the carpet have to do with anything?

    Better would have been: “Rather as in Britanski Queer as Folk, I have seen the dead man’s apartment in this building. He was 74, and of his detritus, an extruded tray was the most tragic. It was made of plastic, with a gaudy Christmas-bell design.”

    Even very smart people often get alt text wrong.

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