The playbook
Alt Text: Worked Examples
The following alt text examples illustrate how to move from an observed problem to a practical decision. They are hypothetical operating scenarios, not customer results or performance benchmarks. The central question is whether the work helps improve informative images with useful alternatives without losing the context needed to judge it.
Put the task in context
For a linked image, the text alternative should communicate the link's purpose. For a chart, provide the important finding and an accessible explanation of the data. Purely decorative images usually need an empty alternative rather than a verbose description that adds no useful information.
Example 1: establish a usable starting point
A team begins working on alt text but cannot consistently describe image and purpose for the same item. The immediate task is determine whether an image is informative functional or decorative. The team records the current state, identifies the source of each value, and resolves conflicting information before making a broader change.
The useful output is a page or query record that another person can interpret. This example does not require assuming an uplift. Success at this stage means the next decision can be made using a shared set of facts, with missing information explicitly identified.
Example 2: correct a specific failure
In a second situation, the team observes stuffing keywords into every text alternative. It proposes the correction: describe the purpose and provide longer explanations when needed. Before applying that correction everywhere, the owner checks whether the same cause is present in other affected items. A common symptom alone does not prove that all items need the same repair.
| Decision | Illustrative reasoning |
|---|---|
| Observation | Stuffing keywords into every text alternative |
| Likely correction | Describe the purpose and provide longer explanations when needed |
| Verification task | Describe necessary information in the current context |
| Result to inspect | Check image links buttons and complex diagrams separately |
After the change, the owner repeats the relevant task and records what happened. If the condition remains, the team returns to the evidence rather than declaring the process complete. The example illustrates a repair cycle; it does not claim a particular commercial result.
Example 3: extend a process after it works
A third team already has reliable records for a small scope and wants to expand. It compares the next group with the first: are image, purpose, text alternative defined in the same way, and does the intended outcome remain informative images with useful alternatives? Differences are written down before the earlier process is reused.
Expansion is appropriate when the assumptions still hold and an owner can review exceptions. Where the new group has different needs, the team adapts the process and tests again. Reusing the structure is useful; reusing a conclusion without checking its conditions is much less reliable.
Apply the examples to your own work
- Write the current problem in observable terms using image.
- Choose which of the three examples matches the stage of the work.
- Complete this action first: determine whether an image is informative functional or decorative.
- Keep the resulting evidence and review informative images with useful alternatives on a consistent basis.
Test representative templates as well as individual URLs. When a problem appears on several pages built from the same component, a template correction may be more useful than a series of one-off edits. Verify the affected pages after the shared change.
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