Submit button alt text

Silktide finds image buttons whose alternative text does not appear to describe what the button does. A button labelled with a filename or a generic word tells people who cannot see it nothing about its purpose.

<!-- Problem: a filename is not a label -->
<input type="image" src="button.png" alt="button.png">

<!-- Problem: generic text adds nothing -->
<input type="image" src="go.png" alt="image">

<!-- Fixed: the alt text names the action -->
<input type="image" src="button.png" alt="Send message">

Why this matters

An image button's is the name a announces for it. Screen readers already announce that the control is a button, so the alt text needs to say what pressing it does. "button.png" or "image" gives the listener nothing to act on, which makes forms - often the most valuable interactions on a site - slow and uncertain for users.

How to fix it

Replace the alt text with a short, action-focused label such as "Search", "Send message", or "Add to cart".
Describe the action, not the picture: what the button does matters more than what it looks like.
If you confirm the existing text genuinely describes the button's purpose, the finding.

How Silktide tests this

Find every image button (<input type="image">) on each page.
Skip buttons hidden from screen readers, and buttons whose alt text is missing or empty - those are reported by Image button alt text instead.
Report buttons whose alt text looks unhelpful, because it is a filename or a URL, a generic word such as "image" or "logo", not human-readable text, or contains no letters or numbers.

Because this detection is based on patterns, findings are likely problems for you to confirm rather than certainties.

Troubleshooting

My alt text is descriptive but still flagged

Very short or unusually punctuated labels can trip the pattern matching. If the text genuinely tells a listener what the button does, approve the finding.