Alt Text: Not Always Needed
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Alt text is one of those things in my muscle memory that pops up anytime I’m working with an image element. The attribute almost writes itself.
Or if you use Emmet, that’s autocompleted for you. Don’t forget the alt text! Use it even if there’s no need for it, as an empty string is simply skipped by screen readers. That’s called “nulling” the alternative text and many screen readers simply announce the image file name. Just be sure it’s truly an empty string because even a space gets picked up by some assistive tech, which causes a screen reader to completely skip the image:
But wait… are there situations where an image doesn’t need alt text? I tend to agree with Eric that the vast majority of images are more than decorative and need to be described. Your images are probably not decorative and ought to be described with alt text.
