1.13 Decorative images are announced by screen readers (M)

Explore this area links on the undergraduate study page

FIGURE 1.35: Explore this area links on the undergraduate study page

Links highlighted on the study page with NVDA speech viewer activated

FIGURE 1.36: Links highlighted on the study page with NVDA speech viewer activated

News and views on the Undergraduate- accounting and finance page

FIGURE 1.37: News and views on the Undergraduate- accounting and finance page

1.13.1 WCAG 1.1.1 (A) - Desktop

There are several decorative images throughout the website that have been assigned alt text. However, the alt text does not convey any additional information that isn’t available elsewhere on the page and is therefore redundant.

For example, the alt text for images on the ‘Explore this area’ section on the Undergraduate study page mirror the adjacent text headings, resulting in content being repeated to screen reader users, which could be irritating to these users.

Image alt text issues persist in other areas of the website. See:

1.13.2 Code Snippet

  • <img src="/~/media/ljmu/sitecore-section-links/study/undergraduate-students/undergraduate-landing-page/liverpool_new_186x200.gif?crop=1&amp;h=200&amp;w=186&amp;la=en" alt="Dock">

1.13.3 Recommendation

As these images are purely decorative and do not convey information, apply a null alt text attribute: alt="".

For reference, if the image is conveying information that needs to be communicated to screen reader users, ensure that the alt text is concise and meaningful.