Answered by
Oliver Hall
Image descriptions and alt text are two different concepts primarily involved in web accessibility and SEO.
Alt text (alternate text) is an attribute added to an image tag in HTML. It's typically used by screen-reader software so that a person who is unable to see the website can understand what the image is about. It's also displayed in place of the image in situations where the image file cannot be loaded. Alt text is essential for improving your site's SEO, as it allows search engines to understand the context of an image. Here's an example of how to use alt text in HTML:
<img src='dog.jpg' alt='A brown dog playing with a ball'>
The Image Description, on the other hand, is a more detailed text explanation about an image. While alt text provides a concise description meant for screen readers and search engines, an image description provides the opportunity to provide more comprehensive information about an image. Image descriptions are not standard HTML attributes and might need a special setup or plugins to implement them depending on your CMS.
It's important to note that both alt text and image descriptions have their roles in making web content more accessible and understandable, not only to people with disabilities but also to search engine algorithms.