Social Security Administration Guide: Alternate Text for Images

Filenames and paths in place of alt-text

When you insert a picture (into Microsoft Word, for example), default alt-text is generated with the path and filename. This is useful for developers who need to find where they got the file from, but it is useless for end-users of the document who use screen readers.

“00451.jpg”
The number tells us nothing about the image.

 

“pastel_yawn.jpg”
Even though the filename alludes to the content in this case, the problem is that this format is not desirable for screen readers. The reader would hear “Image. Pastel underscore yawn dot jaypeg”.

 

“Z://Sample_Pictures/Pastel/pastel_yawn.jpg”
Like the above, but worse. The reader would hear “Image. Zee colon slash slash sample underscore pictures slash pastel slash pastel underscore yawn dot jaypeg”.