Decorative images

Silktide finds images that are marked as decorative and have empty alternative text, so you can confirm they are genuinely safe for to skip. An image marked as decorative is invisible to people using screen readers.

<!-- This image is skipped by assistive technology.
     Is that right, or does it carry information? -->
<img src="chart.png" alt="">

Why this matters

An empty alt="" tells a to ignore the image entirely. That is exactly right for a - one that serves only an aesthetic purpose, provides no information, and has no function. But the same empty attribute on a chart, a photo that carries meaning, or an image used as a button silently erases that content for anyone who cannot see it, and nothing looks wrong to a sighted visitor.

Empty alt text is also a common default in templates and content management systems, so meaningful images end up marked as decorative by accident rather than by choice.

How to fix it

This check asks you to review each image rather than reporting confirmed problems. For each one:

If the image is genuinely decorative, no change is needed - the finding.
If the image carries information or acts as a control, replace the empty attribute with descriptive in your or code.
An image whose meaning is fully repeated by adjacent text - such as an icon next to the same word - is correctly decorative, and should keep its empty alt="".

How Silktide tests this

Find every image on each page with an explicitly empty alt="" attribute.
Skip images that assistive technology would not announce anyway: images with no source, images of 1 pixel or smaller, and images hidden from screen readers.
Skip images with an explicit role="presentation" attribute. Unlike an empty alt, which is often a template default, a presentation role is almost always a deliberate choice.
Skip images from known third-party services, such as embedded map tiles.
List each remaining image, with its surrounding text for context, for you to confirm it is genuinely decorative.

Images with no alt attribute at all are reported by Missing alt text instead.

Troubleshooting

Why review images that may be fine?

Whether an image is decorative depends on what it depicts and the role it plays on the page - things no automated test can judge. Silktide surfaces the decision; you make it once, and approved images stay approved.