As a follow-up on Can we make image description required?, I wonder: How can one add an alt text for a linked image?
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4What do you mean a "linked image"? An image which isn't embedded, but there's just a link to another site?bobble– bobble2025-05-02 20:23:27 +00:00Commented May 2 at 20:23
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@bobble yes. Could also be SE e.g. "i.sstatic.net/xVDSOU9i.png".Franck Dernoncourt– Franck Dernoncourt2025-05-02 20:25:36 +00:00Commented May 2 at 20:25
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the most obvious solution would be throwing an LLM at it, but is that really better than nothing at all for a thing that needs to be very accurate but few people will actually see to make sure that's the case?Kevin B– Kevin B2025-05-02 20:50:35 +00:00Commented May 2 at 20:50
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Why would you do this? If I link an image (for example, this one of a Saturn V rocket: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Apollo_11_Launch_-_GPN-2000-000630.jpg), why don't I just use the built in Markdown link-maker and do this? That way whatever alt text I would add to the linked image per what you say, for example "image of American Saturn V moon rocket ready for Apollo 11", I can just make part of the text itself: image of American Saturn V moon rocket ready for Apollo 11
Screen readers should read the text even though it's a link, and if anything this makes it more accessible to people on mobile who don't have alt text at all without certain settings. What does putting alt-text on links like that actually get you? Using the built-in Markdown is smoother and more accessible and looks better after the fact.
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Thanks. Some information may be unnecessary for the post, so one may prefer to use a linked image instead of embedding it, along with appropriate alt text.Franck Dernoncourt– Franck Dernoncourt2025-05-02 22:02:00 +00:00Commented May 2 at 22:02
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6You can also add a hover title using Markdown. From meta.stackexchange.com/help/formatting Links can have a title attribute, which will show up on hover. [...] Here's a
[poorly-named link](https://www.google.com/ "Google").PM 2Ring– PM 2Ring2025-05-02 22:30:54 +00:00Commented May 2 at 22:30 -
@PM2Ring thanks that's a good idea (I don't know how screen readers would digest that though).Franck Dernoncourt– Franck Dernoncourt2025-05-03 00:53:07 +00:00Commented May 3 at 0:53