Your daily frequent11y newsletter, brought to you by @ChrisBAshton:
Your Image Is Probably Not Decorative
- Eric Bailey explains why most images nowadays need some form of alternative text.
- You can ‘nullify’ images – removing them from the screen reader experience – by adding an empty alt text, i.e.
<img alt="" ...>
. This should only be used when the image doesn’t convey information that is important to understanding the purpose of the page or view. - You might nullify your images in the following scenarios:
- Old layout techniques requiring ‘spacer’ images
- Where the image repeats content that is already in the page (though this could still be confusing for screen reader users who have partial vision)
- Supplemental icons (e.g.
<button><img alt="" src="icon.svg"> Print</button>
).
- Eric also explains how you can provide alt text when using CSS background images (hint: it uses the spacer gif!)
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