Last updated: November 25, 2025

Looking for practical alt text advice? Reddit's accessibility and SEO communities have some of the best discussions out there. We've pulled together the most helpful threads and annotated them with what actually matters: what works, what doesn't, and why.

Table of contents

• How we chose these threads
• Fundamentals and quick wins
• Ecommerce: variants, duplicates, decorative assets
• Charts, infographics, UI screenshots, and memes
• WCAG compliance in plain English
• Tools, audits, and CMS quirks
• Before/after examples
• FAQ

How we chose these threads

We looked for discussions where experienced accessibility pros either agreed or had good reasons for disagreeing. We wanted concrete examples, not just theory. And we focused on advice that actually scales—the kind of stuff you can use on a 10,000-product catalog, not just a boutique portfolio site.

1. Fundamentals and quick wins

Thread: "What actually belongs in alt, what belongs near the image, and what belongs nowhere?"

Subreddit: r/accessibility
Useful for: beginners, content editors, designers

Main point: alt text describes what the image does in context, not what it looks like. If there's text nearby that already covers it, keep your alt short or leave it blank for decoration. And skip writing "image of" or "picture of" unless it matters.

Common mistake: copying the caption into the alt text word-for-word, or packing it with SEO keywords.

Thread: "Alt text length: is ~125 characters a rule or a myth?"

Subreddit: r/SEO
Useful for: SEOs and copy editors

Turns out the 125-character "rule" comes from older screen reader tech, not any actual hard limit. Most people in the thread agreed: write what's needed to be clear. If the image is simple, keep it short. If it needs more explanation, use more words.

Common mistake: treating 125 as a hard limit, or stuffing keywords into that space.

Thread: "When to use alt="" vs leaving it out entirely"

Subreddit: r/webdev
Useful for: developers, QA

If an image is purely decorative, use alt="" (and usually role="presentation" too). Leaving the alt attribute off completely is actually worse—screen readers will announce the filename instead.

Common mistake: shipping theme icons with auto-generated alts like icon-chevron-down that just create noise.

2. Ecommerce: variants, duplicates, decorative assets

Thread: "Managing alt text for variant images at scale"

Subreddit: r/woocommerce
Useful for: WooCommerce/PDP owners

Start with a base product description, then add variant details only when the visual actually changes—like "red knit sweater with cable pattern, v-neck." Don't just copy-paste the same alt text across all 20 carousel images.

Common mistake: dumping SKU codes into the alt, or just duplicating your H1 headline.

Thread: "Shopify theme icons and badges: alt or decorative?"

Subreddit: r/shopify
Useful for: Shopify devs and theme customizers

Trust badges, arrows, cart icons—these are decorative unless the image has information that's not already in text nearby. Mark your theme sprites as decorative and put any actual information into readable text.

Common mistake: letting icon-check or similar junk through to screen readers.

Thread: "Bulk workflows for cleaning duplicate alts across catalogs"

Subreddit: r/TechSEO
Useful for: SEOs and data folks

Focus on high-impact images first: product detail page heroes, collection headers, pages that rank. Export everything with character counts and dupe detection, then queue up reviews for your top SKUs.

Common mistake: renaming image files without setting up redirects, or forgetting about all those thumbnails scattered across the site.

3. Charts, infographics, UI screenshots, and memes

Thread: "How do you write alt for charts without writing a novel?"

Subreddit: r/AssistiveTechnology
Useful for: product teams, analysts

The alt should capture the main point—what you'd tell someone if you were describing the chart out loud. Put detailed numbers in a data table nearby. If the axes or trend direction matter for understanding, mention those.

Common mistake: copying your entire dataset into the alt attribute.

Thread: "Infographics: when to move description into page copy or aria-describedby"

Subreddit: r/accessibility
Useful for: designers, content strategists

Write a short alt that captures the main point, then include the full text version below the image (or link to it). If the infographic just shows what's already written on the page, you can make the alt really short.

Common mistake: embedding text inside images with no text alternative anywhere.

Thread: "UI screenshots in docs: what goes in alt vs surrounding guidance?"

Subreddit: r/web_design
Useful for: technical writers, devrel

Name the UI element and the action: "Settings page showing 'Enable two-factor authentication' toggle." Don't just repeat your instructions verbatim.

Common mistake: generic alts like screenshot that add no value.

4. WCAG compliance in plain English

Thread: "WCAG SC 1.1.1 for images: real-world pass/fail examples"

Subreddit: r/accessibility
Useful for: compliance leads, QA

This thread maps everyday patterns—product images, blog headers, UI elements—to actual WCAG success criteria. Helpful if you're trying to figure out what passes and what fails. The consensus: document your decisions so your team stays consistent.

Don't use the "decorative" exception as a loophole for being lazy with alt text.

Learn more about meeting WCAG 2.1 image compliance with our complete guide.

Thread: "Logos, wordmarks, and brand marks: what should the alt be?"

Subreddit: r/SEO
Useful for: brand/design teams

If your logo links to the homepage, use your brand name as the alt. If the logo appears elsewhere and is just decoration, use alt="".

Common mistake: using company logo everywhere, even when it's redundant.

5. Tools, audits, and CMS quirks

Thread: "Quick scripts to detect missing/duplicate alts via sitemap"

Subreddit: r/SideProject
Useful for: devs, SEOs who code a little

Basic curl/xmllint or Python scripts can catch most systemic alt text problems fast. If your deploys include images, set up weekly scans in CI to catch regressions.

Common mistake: relying on visual QA alone—you need automated checks to catch missing alts.

Thread: "CMS gotchas: WordPress/Woo and how alt gets lost on upload"

Subreddit: r/Wordpress or r/WordpressPlugins
Useful for: WP site owners

WordPress media library titles don't automatically become alt text—you have to set the alt field explicitly. And themes or page builders can overwrite what you set, so audit your templates.

Common mistake: assuming plugins will fix bad theme markup. Check what's actually rendering in the HTML.

Before/after examples

Product hero (PDP):

• Before: alt="product image"
• After: alt="Red knit sweater with cable pattern and v-neck, model standing front view"

Decorative divider:

• Before: alt="line"
• After: alt=""

Infographic summary:

• Before: alt="Customer satisfaction infographic"
• After: alt="Customer satisfaction rose from 72% to 86% after live chat rollout; biggest gains in first-response time and issue resolution"

UI screenshot in docs:

• Before: alt="Screenshot"
• After: alt="Settings page showing 'Enable two-factor authentication' toggle"

Related resources

• WCAG 2.1 Image Accessibility: The Essentials
• Website Scanner (free)
• Best Practices for Writing Effective Alt Text
• Alt Text at Scale: Boost Accessibility & SEO for Ecommerce