Image Size in Alt Text

[AliMac26]

Hi,

On our ecommerce site, when we load an image for an item, it automatically loads different sizes for that image. (i.e. High Res, Large, Small, Thumbnail, etc). We have an option to add the size to the alt text of the image (in addition to the description of the picture... so for example "Blue casual shirt High Res"... is this necessary?

One of our clients requested this and I am not sure I see the point of having the image size in the alt text unless it helps the visually impaired in some way?

[brooksmanley]

I've never encountered a request like this, and I've never heard that this could be considered a best practice.

I think you're right in saying the image size isn't necessarily helpful from an accessibility standpoint. And if it's not serving to make a web page more accessible, it's probably not necessary. I'd be interested to know your client's reasoning for the request.

[Nigel_Carr]

Hi Ali

I can understand why because otherwise all of the images will have the same alt text which is confusing for Google. Best practice is to have different alts for each image The images are separate files so they should have different alts, regardless of the fact that they are the same image in different sizes.

Keep it simple: 'Blue casual shirt large' 'Blue casual shirt small' etc

If you are a branded site put the brand in. 'Lacoste Blue Casual Shirt Art 35789 - Small', 'Lacoste Blue Casual Shirt Art 35789 - Thumb' etc

The alt is your anchor text for links and image name, so be specific. The better you get at this the more you will feature in Google images - a good source of traffic.

Regards

Nigel

[brooksmanley]

That makes a lot of sense if you have multiple photos for a single item – didn't consider that.

[AliMac26]

Thanks for the input, guys!