Alt text is very long

Why it matters

Alt text over about 150 characters is tiring to listen to and cannot be skipped part-way through. Long descriptions belong in the page itself.

How to fix it

Keep the alt text to the point. Put any longer explanation (for a chart or infographic, say) in visible text next to the image and refer to it.

<!-- Before -->
<img src="chart.png" alt="A bar chart showing sales by month ... (200 more words)">

<!-- After -->
<figure>
  <img src="chart.png" alt="Sales by month, rising from March to a peak in November">
  <figcaption>Full figures are in the table below.</figcaption>
</figure>

Related rules

• Image has no alt attribute (WCAG 1.1.1)
• Alt text looks like a file name (WCAG 1.1.1)
• Alt text starts with "image of" or similar (WCAG 1.1.1)
• SVG marked as an image has no name (WCAG 1.1.1)