Alt Text Inventory Template

Download

The files

Plain text files you can open anywhere.

CSV

The inventory

alt-text-inventory.csv

Eight sample rows from a made-up shop, covering each kind of image and a logo. Open it in a spreadsheet, delete the samples, and add a row for each image you find.

Format: Comma-separated values (RFC 4180)
Size: 2,294 bytes
Contents: 10 columns, 8 rows

Preview: the header and the first 3 rows

ID,Page,Image,Purpose,Current alt,Proposed alt,Long description,Decision,Status,Notes
IMG-001,All pages (header),logo.svg - the Example Shop wordmark; links to the home page,Functional,logo,Example Shop home,,Rewrite,Done,"A linked logo: the alt gives the words in the logo, then where the link goes."
IMG-002,/products/oak-side-table/,oak-side-table-front.jpg - the main product photo,Informative,IMG_2041.jpg,Oak side table with one drawer and a lower shelf,,Rewrite,Checked,"The current alt is the camera's file name. The price and finish are already in the text beside the photo, so the alt leaves them out."
IMG-003,/,leaf-divider.svg - a line of leaves between two sections,Decorative,leaf divider,,,Mark decorative,Done,"Use alt="""" so screen readers skip it; it adds nothing a reader needs."

The columns, in order

ID
Page
Image
Purpose
Current alt
Proposed alt
Long description
Decision
Status
Notes

Download the file

Markdown

The guide

alt-text-guide.md

How to decide what an image is for, how to write each kind of alternative, what each column means, and how to review the inventory.

Format: Markdown text (.md)
Size: 6,427 bytes
Contents: 83 lines

Preview: the first 18 lines

# Alt text inventory: a guide

> Template version 1.0, 2026-10-07, from https://auricartisan.com/templates/alt-text-inventory/
> Licence: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Copy it, change it and use it for anything; no credit needed.
> This guide goes with alt-text-inventory.csv. Delete the sample rows in the CSV before you start.

A text alternative stands in for an image for anyone who cannot see it: people who use a screen reader, people who turn images off, and anyone whose images fail to load. WCAG 2.2 asks for one that serves the same purpose as the image (1.1.1 Non-text Content, Level A).

The right words depend on what the image does on the page, not only on what it shows. So the inventory records the purpose first, and the words second.

## 1. Decide what the image is for

Ask these questions in order. The first one you answer yes to gives the purpose. They follow the order of the questions in the W3C WAI alt decision tree (https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/decision-tree/).

1. Is there text in the image?
   - The same words are on the page as real text nearby: Decorative.
   - The text does a job, such as a letter used as the icon of a button: Functional, as in question 2.
   - Otherwise: Image of text. The alternative is the words.

Download the file

Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal, a public domain dedication. Copy, change and use these files for anything, including paid work, without asking or giving credit. The files are plain ASCII text in English, so they open the same everywhere.

What goes in it

What the inventory records

The right alternative depends on what the image does on the page, not only on what it shows, so the inventory records the purpose before the words.

Where the image is. The page, the file name and what the image shows. The same file on two pages can need two different alternatives, so each use gets its own row.
What it is for. One of the image types in the W3C WAI Images Tutorial: informative, decorative, functional, image of text, complex, or part of a group.
The alt text now, and the alt text it should have. The current alt copied word for word, so a missing alt and an empty one can be told apart; then the words it should have, or none if it is decorative.
A long description. For a chart or a diagram, the information a short alt cannot hold, written to go on the page.
The decision and its progress. Keep, rewrite, mark as decorative, replace with real text, or add a long description; then a status, until someone has checked it with a screen reader.

Column by column

Columns of the inventory

Columns of the inventory (table)
Column	What to write
ID	A short reference, such as IMG-001, to use in tickets and reviews.
Page	The page's path, such as /products/oak-side-table/, or where the image appears on every page, such as All pages (header).
Image	The file name and what the image shows: enough to find it without opening the page.
Purpose	Informative, Decorative, Functional, Image of text, Complex or Group of images. The guide explains how to choose.
Current alt	The alt as it is now, word for word. Write (missing) when there is no alt attribute, and (empty) for alt="".
Proposed alt	The words the image should have. Leave it empty for a decorative image.
Long description	For a complex image, the information the short alternative leaves out, such as a chart's values. Otherwise leave it empty.
Decision	What to do: Keep, Rewrite, Mark decorative, Replace with text, or Add long description.
Status	To do, In progress, Done or Checked: Done when the change is made, Checked once someone has heard it with a screen reader on the live page.
Notes	Why you decided as you did, the markup to use, or who must approve the words.

Example

What each kind of image needs

The purposes from the W3C WAI Images Tutorial, what the text alternative should say for each, and an example from the sample shop.

What each kind of image needs (table)
Purpose	What the alternative says	Example
Informative	What the image tells the reader that the text around it does not, in a phrase or a sentence.	alt="Oak side table with one drawer and a lower shelf"
Decorative	Nothing. An empty alt tells screen readers to skip the image.	alt=""
Functional	What happens when it is used: the action or the destination, not the picture.	alt="Search"
Image of text	The same words as the image. Better still, real text in place of the image.	alt="Summer sale on lamps and lighting"
Complex	A short alt that says what it is and where the details are, and the details on the page.	alt="Diagram of the oak side table with its measurements, listed below"
Group of images	One alternative for the whole group, on one image; the others get an empty alt.	alt="Rated 4 out of 5 stars"

A logo that links to the home page is functional: alt="Example Shop home" gives the words in the logo and where the link goes.

How to use it

Build the inventory and work through it

List the images. Every img element, inline svg, icon in a link or a button, and CSS background image that carries information, page by page or from a sample of each kind of page. Find images with no alt in the URL Analyzer
Decide each purpose. Ask the questions in the guide in order: the first one you answer yes to gives the purpose.
Write the proposed alt. Write it with the person who put the image on the page: they know why it is there.
Fix the source. Change the alt in the code or the content management system, and replace images of text with real text where you can.
Check it on the page. Listen to the live page with a screen reader, with the text around each image, before you mark a row Checked. 1.1.1 Non-text Content, with a demo and tests

Know its limits

A tool can find a missing alt, not a wrong one

Automated checks can report an image with no alt attribute, or one whose alt looks like a file name. Whether the words suit the page takes a person who knows why the image is there.

WCAG 2.2 asks for a text alternative that serves the same purpose as the image (1.1.1 Non-text Content, Level A), and for real text instead of images of text where the technology can show it, with exceptions such as logos (1.4.5 Images of Text, Level AA).

Sources

Where this comes from

Written by Auric Artisan. Not yet reviewed by an independent accessibility specialist.

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Alt text inventory Template