• Success Criterion 1.1.1
  • Conformance level A

Alt Text So Long It Buries the Image’s Real Purpose

1.1.1 — Non-text Content

Scenario

Setting

A food-delivery app's order-tracking screen

What’s wrong

Alt text is excessively verbose — a full scene description of every visual detail — burying the image's actual purpose — screen reader users sit through paragraphs where a short, purposeful description was needed.

Example 

<img src="delivery-map-pin.png" alt="A red map pin icon with a white circular background and a subtle drop shadow, rendered in the app's signature brand color with rounded edges and a small triangular pointer indicating the exact delivery location on the interactive map view">

Why it matters

A hungry customer tracking their order has to sit through a design-detail essay about a map pin before learning where their food actually is.

How to test

Read the full alt text aloud and time it: if it goes well beyond a short phrase and buries the image's actual purpose in unnecessary visual detail, it fails.

How to fix

Describe what the image communicates to the task, not how it was drawn. A short, purposeful alt beats an exhaustive visual description.

<img src="delivery-map-pin.png" alt="Your delivery is near 5th Avenue">

Outcome

A customer hears "your delivery is near 5th Avenue" immediately and knows exactly how close their food is.

Who is affected

Screen reader users checking time-sensitive status updates pay real delay for every unnecessary word.

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