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UX/UI Design vocabulary · Accessibility

Alt text

Meaning in UX/UI design, with examples

nounCore term

In UX/UI design, alt text means: A short written description of an image, added in the code, that screen readers read aloud and browsers show if the image fails to load.

In Turkish: alternatif metin, alt metin

How it is used

Short for alternative text; in HTML it is the alt attribute. Designers write or specify alt text for meaningful images during handoff. Decorative images get empty alt text so that screen readers skip them.

Example sentences

  1. Write alt text that explains the chart's main point, not just 'chart'.

  2. The product photos have no alt text, so screen reader users don't know what they're buying.

Common collocations

  • add alt text
  • write alt text
  • missing alt text
  • empty alt text
  • screen readerSoftware that reads the content of a screen aloud or sends it to a braille display, used mainly by blind and low-vision people to use computers and phones.
  • accessibilityThe practice of designing products that people with disabilities, such as low vision, blindness, deafness or limited movement, can perceive, understand and use.
  • WCAGShort for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: the international standard, published by the W3C, that explains how to make websites and apps accessible.
  • inclusive designAn approach that designs for the full range of human diversity, including ability, age, language, culture and situation, so that more people can use a product.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Accessibility

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