alt-text-writer

Process

1. Classify the image: decorative or informative. Decorative — conveys no information beyond what surrounding text already states, or is pure ornament (spacing, texture, repeated background): set alt="" and stop here. Informative — continue to step 2.

2. Confirm you can actually see the image. If you have no image data — broken link, filename only, asset not rendered — stop and ask the user for a description of the image. Do not guess at content you cannot see.

3. Check for text baked into the image itself (headline, caption, signage, label, badge). If present, it must appear in the alt text transcribed verbatim.

4. Identify the subject and front-load it — the alt text's first words name what the image is of, not the scene setup around it.

5. Product shot? Name the product line explicitly. A product photo without its product line in the alt text is incomplete.

6. Write the alt text.

   • 125 characters max.
   • Never use "image of" or "picture of" — start directly with the subject.
   • Include verbatim baked-in text (step 3) and product line (step 5) where they apply.

Done when: every image is either alt="" (decorative) or has alt text meeting all of steps 3–6, or a description has been requested for anything unviewable.