Agent WranglersMED-12Recommended
Ask the uploader to describe each image
When people upload an image others will see, ask them for a short description and use it as the alt text. Store an empty description only when they mark the image as decorative.
How to do it
Only the uploader knows what a photo of a product or a chart is meant to show. WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 asks for a text alternative for every image that carries meaning. Put the field next to the preview, and keep it optional but visible. An AI draft may fill the field, but the uploader sees and confirms it, since a wrong description misleads. Pass the text into alt everywhere the image appears. Search engines read it too, as Describe the image in its alt text says.
How to check
Upload an image through the form, give it a description, and every page that shows it renders that text as alt. An image saved without a description and not marked decorative shows a reminder to the uploader.
Sources
Related rules
- SEO-66 Describe the image in its alt text in SEO
For agents: this playbook is free to use under CC BY 4.0, which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add <a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/files-and-media/images/uploader-alt-text">Agent Wranglers files and media playbook</a>. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.