Appropriate alt text

Silktide lists the images on your pages that have alternative text, so you can confirm the text genuinely conveys what each image shows or does. Whether a description is accurate is a human judgment that no automated test can make.

<!-- The alt text exists, but only you can judge whether
     "Apple" describes what this image actually conveys -->
<a href="/apple">
    <img src="apple.png" alt="Apple">
</a>

Why this matters

is only useful if it carries the same information as the image it replaces. Text that is present but wrong - a leftover from an older image, a keyword-stuffed caption, or a vague label - can be worse than nothing, because a user has no way to know the description is misleading.

Images that work as links or buttons matter most: if the alt text does not say where the link goes or what the button does, part of your site becomes unusable for people who cannot see it.

How to fix it

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

Check the alt text conveys the same information or purpose as the image. For a photo, describe what it shows; for a linked image, describe the destination or action; for a chart, summarize what it demonstrates.
Rewrite any alt text that fails that test, in your or code.
If the image turns out to be purely , replace the alt text with an empty alt="" instead.

How Silktide tests this

Find every image on each page, skipping any elements you have excluded from checking.
Skip images that do not need alternative text: images with no source, images 1 pixel or smaller, and images hidden from screen readers.
List each remaining image that has non-empty alt text, alongside that text, for you to review.

Images whose alt text is obviously unhelpful (such as a filename) are reported separately by Weak alt text, and images with no alt text at all by Missing alt text. This check covers the remainder, where only a person can judge quality.

Troubleshooting

Why are correct images listed here?

They should be - this is a review, not a list of failures. Silktide cannot see what an image depicts, so it surfaces every image with plausible alt text for a human to confirm. Once you have reviewed an image, you will not need to look at it again unless it changes.