Parish Councils – Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Images should specify appropriate
[alternative text](https://help.silktide.com/en/articles/8020957-alternative-text), 
where appropriate.

Alternative text is text that is used in place of an image if it cannot
be seen. This is important for users who are blind or partially sighted, 
who may have the page read to them by a screen-reader. Without alternative 
text, they will not know what the image is, or what it is for.

## How to fix this issue 

In most cases, you can fix this issue by adding alternative text to the media
in your Content Management System (CMS).

If you need to do this in code, you can alternative text to an image using 
the `alt` attribute. For example: 

```html
<img src="apple.png" alt="A red apple">
```

Alternative text should be descriptive and useful. We recommend you read 
[this comprehensive guide to writing alternative text](https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/)
by WebAIM.

It is not always appropriate to provide alternative text. For example, if an
image is purely decorative - it adds nothing to the content of the page - then
it is better to omit the alternative text entirely. This is because screen-reader
users will have to listen to the alternative text, which can be annoying if it
is not useful, or highly repetitive.

To specify that an image is decorative, use an empty `alt` attribute, e.g.:

```html
<img src="decorative-image.png" alt="">
```

## Methodology

This check tests if the `alt` attribute is present on an image. If it is not, 
then the check fails.

Some images are excluded from this check:

1. **Images without a `src` attribute.** This is because they are
   not visible to users, and therefore do not need alternative text.
2. **Images which are 1px in width or height.** This is because they are only
   used for tracking pixels, or (rarely) layout purposes, and do not need 
   alternative text.
3. **Images which are hidden from screen readers using the `aria-hidden` attribute.**
   This is because they are not accessible to screen readers, and therefore would not 
   use their alternative text.

## More information

The W3C also provide more information on how to satisfy this check in 
[Technique H37](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H37).

Specify alternative text for appropriate images

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Where this issue has occurred