EN

Alt text helper

Write good alt text for an image. Answer a few questions and get advice and a draft you can copy.

Alt text helper

Alt text helper

Answer the questions about one image. Also look at the text around it: that decides what belongs in the alt text.

Can you click on the image?

For example a logo that goes to the homepage, or an icon that is a button.

E-powerment

Alt text helper

Your advice

Answer the questions. Then you see here what kind of alt text fits, with a suggestion you can copy.

Examples

For a photo or drawing. The examples are made up, for websites in care and support.

  • On the page ‘Where to find us’ there is a photo of the entrance.

    Good: ‘Entrance with a blue door, next to the library.’

    Not like this: ‘Image of a building’

    Someone looking for the entrance is helped by the colour of the door and where it is.

  • Next to an article about exercising together, there is a photo of two people walking.

    Good: ‘A support worker and a client walk together through the park.’

    Not like this: ‘IMG_2043.jpg’

    A file name says nothing about what can be seen.

How to add it

In HTML
Put the text between the quotation marks of alt="".
In your website builder
Paste the text into the alt text field. It is often called ‘Alternative text’.
In Word and PowerPoint
Right-click the image and choose ‘Edit Alt Text’ or ‘View Alt Text’. Paste the text into the box.
On social media
When you post a photo, look for ‘alt text’ or ‘alternative text’.

Tips

  • Do not start with ‘image of’ or ‘photo of’. A screen reader already says that it is an image.
  • Keep it short. Usually one sentence is enough. Put more explanation in the text next to the image.
  • Look at where the image is. The same photo can tell something on one page and be decoration on another page.
  • Read your alt text aloud, together with the text around it. Does it sound like one logical story?

How it works

  1. Choose one image to write an alt text for. Also look at the text around it.
  2. Answer the questions. After each answer, you see whether there is another question. You can go back and choose something else.
  3. Fill in what is asked. Your advice and your alt text appear straight away under ‘Your advice’.
  4. Read the points marked ‘Note’ and change your text if needed.
  5. Press ‘Copy the alt text’ and paste it into the alt text field of your website, document or post.

With Print, above the tool, only the advice goes on paper, with your answers, examples and tips. You can talk it through with a colleague.

What is alt text?

Alt text is a short text that goes with an image. Alt stands for alternative: the text takes the place of the image. People who cannot see the image, for example because they are blind, sometimes use a screen reader. That is software that reads the page aloud. For an image, it reads out the alt text. If an image does not load, you also see the alt text.

Good alt text does not say everything there is to see. It says what the image means in this place. That is why this tool asks about the place and the purpose of your image, and not only about what is in it.

What the rules ask

WCAG is the international standard for accessible websites and apps. Read more in what is WCAG. A requirement in WCAG is called a success criterion. Images are covered by Success Criterion 1.1.1, Non-text Content. It is part of level A, the basic level of WCAG. The requirement: all non-text content has a text alternative that serves the same purpose. If an image is only decoration, assistive technology must be able to ignore it. You do that with an empty alt text.

Alt text belongs to the first principle of WCAG: perceivable. Everyone must be able to see or hear the information, including people who cannot see the image. Also read Perceivable: nobody misses information.

Good to know

  • This tool does not look at your image. You know the place and the reader.
  • Not sure whether an image is decoration? Read the text around it aloud, without the image. Or ask someone who does not know the page.
  • A testing tool can see whether an alt text is missing, but not whether it is right. You check that yourself.
  • The questions follow the idea of the decision tree from the W3C, the organisation behind WCAG. We have put them in our own words, in a different order: first whether you can click on it, because then what the image does matters most. The examples are made up, for websites in care and support.

Your data

We do not store or send anything: what you fill in stays on your own device until you refresh the page. An alt text you copy is only on your own clipboard.

Sources

Read on 30 September 2026.

More tools

See all tools 

  • GameSimulation

    Obstacle course

    Try for yourself what it is like to use a website when you cannot see well, your hand shakes, reading is hard or you only have a keyboard. Then you repair the website and try again.

    With your client

  • CheckText check

    Plain language check

    Check whether your Dutch text is easy to read. See long sentences and difficult words, with a simpler word next to them.

    With your client

  • CheckWebsite test

    Keyboard test

    Test your own website using only the keyboard. Ten short steps, each linked to its WCAG 2.2 requirement, show what works and what does not, with a tip for every point.

    With your client

Build something together?

Send us a message if you have an idea, are missing something or would like to try a tool with your team. Tell us in a few sentences what it is about. We read everything, and it commits you to nothing.

Send us a message [email protected]