Image

When to use

• Content that is an image, such as a screenshot, a photograph or an illustration.
• When the picture shows information that the text around it does not.

When not to use

• An icon. Use an icon instead, because it inherits colour and scales with text.
• A logo. Use a logo instead, because it has its own rules.
• Decoration that adds nothing. It still takes time to load, and people have to scroll past it.

Content

What to write, and what to leave out.

• Write alt text that says what the image tells people, not what kind of image it is. A queue with four unassigned conversations, not Screenshot.
• Use an empty alt for a purely decorative image, so screen readers skip it instead of announcing a file name.
• Do not start with Image of. Screen readers already say it is an image.