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UsThis page will pass validation with tools like Bobby. However, it is filled with things which will make even the calmest, most tolerant user scream. If your goal is to torture visitors and make them avoid your site, then you should do things the way they are shown on this page. Otherwise, please refrain from making these mistakes. Remember, listen to what your pages sound like. If it sounds bad to you, chances are it will sound bad to your visitors.
Decorative images such as spacers, bullets, etc. should have an alt text attribute set to null. Since they are only for decoration and do not convey any additional meaning, having alt text would simply be repetitive and annoy the user. If you have no alt attribute, then most screen readers will think you forgot to put one and will thus read out the URL of the image. But if you have an alt attribute set to a null string, that is an indication to the screen reader that you did not forget the alt text but rather made a concious choice to not have it say anything. Below is an example of a case where decorative images are tagged with repetitive alt text. Hear for yourself how annoying this can be.
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Alt text exists to give users access to the information that would be conveyed by the image that they can't see either because of visual impairments or because of browser/device limitations. If your alt text does not convey the same information, then you have bad alt text that leaves your users in the dark. If this information is vital, then your page may be completely inaccessible, even if it validates. Below is an example of a case where the images convey the language of the page that is being linked to. Close your eyes and listen to these links. See if you can figure out which link goes to which language. (Hint: You can't, not unless you have extra sensory perception. And if you do have it, please remember that the majority of your users will not be as gifted.)
Choose your language:
If you would like to read more about the proper use of Alt text, here are some websites on that subject that I like: