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#REDIRECT [[Alt attribute]]
[[Image:BBC.svg|thumb|right|Depending on where it appears, the alt text of the [[BBC]]'s logo might be "Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation", "BBC" or a null value. In this case, it's the full text of this caption.]]
[[Image:alt text.png|frame|right|Screenshot of preceding images' alt text rendered in lieu of image.]]

'''Alt text''' is an attribute of the [[HTML]]'s <code>&lt;img&gt;</code> (image) and some other [[HTML tag|tags]].

It is intended to be presented when the image (or other object) to which it pertains is not available to the user, for instance in a text-only browser or a [[refreshable Braille display]]. It is also available for indexing by [[search engine]]s. It is not intended to provide "pop up" text or [[tooltip]]s when a user's [[mouse (computing)|mouse]] hovers over the image, though alt text has historically been presented in this way in some [[web browser]]s. HTML's <code>title</code> attribute is the correct attribute to use if this is what is desired.

The presence of the attribute, which may be null (<code>alt=""</code>) is a requirement for [[World Wide Web Consortium|HTML standard]] compliance. However (except for purely decorative images, when it should be null), the use of ''meaningful'' alt text is necessary to comply with [[WAI|accessibility standards]]; and is good practice.

Note: Alt text is commonly, but incorrectly, refered to as an image's "alt tag".

==External links==
*[http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/objects.html#h-13.8 W3C page]
*[http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~flavell/alt/alt-text.html Alt text guidance from Alan Flavell] with section on humourous gaffes
*[http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_23_providing_text_equivalents_for_images.html Dive in to accessibility page on alt text]
*[http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/contentaccessibility.html Content Accessibility Tutorial]
*[http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/html/alt.html Alt text guidelines from Jukka "Yucca" Korpela]

{{Web-stub}}

Latest revision as of 18:21, 18 June 2009

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