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Alert - Suspicious alternative text

  • WAVE Category: Alert
  • WAVE Alert: Suspicious alternative text

Page Content Status

  • WAVE Error guidance text
  • Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool
  • Project Team Error guidance
    • Project Team Page Details
    • Project Team Issue and PR details
    • Project Team Solution
  • Credits/Authors

WAVE Guidance

WAVE Tool's Reference material on Suspicious alternative text may not specifically address your problem. We provide it here for optional reading.

Click to see WAVE Tool Reference

This content added 2026-04-07. Check for updated guidance at: https://wave.webaim.org/api/docs?format=html#alt_suspicious

WAVE Category

Alerts

WAVE Error

Suspicious alternative text

What It Means

Alternative text is likely insufficient or contains extraneous information.

Why It Matters

If the alternative text for an image does not provide the same content or information conveyed by the image, that content will not be available to screen reader users and when images are unavailable.

What To Do

Ensure that the alternative text for the image or image input provides a succinct, yet equivalent alternative to the content and function of the image. Screen readers and browser presentation inform the user that the object is an image, so alternative text of "image of..." (and similar) should be avoided. If the image does not convey content or if the content is presented in nearby text (e.g., a caption), null/empty alternative text (alt="") is appropriate.

The Algorithm... in English

The alt text value of an image or image button: - begins with "graphic of", "bullet", or "image of" - ends with "image" or "graphic" - contains only space characters (alt=" ") - is an image file name (e.g. alt="photo.gif") - is one of the following: "image", "graphic", "photo", "photograph", "drawing", "painting", "artwork", "logo", "bullet", "button", "arrow", "more", "spacer", "blank", "chart", "table", "diagram", "graph", or "*"

Standards and Guidelines

Example of a DOM Snippet Generated From WAVE Tool

[HTML snippet showing the problematic code structure that WAVE detected]

Project Team Error guidance

The following material covers how the Project Team has provided a solution to the Suspicious alternative text WAVE Alert.

Project Page Details

  • Project Page name: [INSERT PAGE NAME or "ALL"]
  • Project Dev URL: [INSERT URL or "N/A"]
  • Requires sign in: [TRUE OR FALSE]
    • Required User Role: [INSERT ONE OF: Visitor, Logged in user, Admin, Security Admin]
    • Can access page directly from URL: [TRUE OR FALSE]
    • Accepts URL parameters: [TRUE OR FALSE]

Project Team Issue and PR details

  • Related GitHub Issue(s):
    • [INSERT ISSUE URL]
  • Related Pull Request(s):
    • [INSERT PR URL]
  • React Component(s)
    • [INSERT PATH: e.g. path/to/Component.jsx]

Project Team Solution

What is the specific problem that was occurring?

[INSERT CONTENT]

What is the proposed solution to this problem?

[INSERT CONTENT]

Step-By-Step Guide

Click to see step-by-step guide

[ADD DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS HERE]

Other Technical Details

Click to see other technical details

[INSERT OTHER DETAILS e.g. Prop References, Return Value ]

Code Snippet With Solution

Click to see code snippets

[INSERT PATH file/path/to/Snippet.jsx]

[Code example showing the fix/solution]

Why the Fix Works

[INSERT CONTENT]

Where this solution is applicable

  • [INSERT SCENARIO 1]
  • [INSERT SCENARIO 2]
  • [INSERT SCENARIO N]

Screenshots of WAVE Error

1. Descriptive Title for Screenshot Set 1

Description/text for image

[INSERT IMAGE HERE]

Credits/Authors

  • @MissBrandyLea
  • [INCLUDE Contributor 2]
  • [INCLUDE Contributor N]