Accessibility: Preparing Your Images and Galleries

7 min read
Visitors who have visual conditions may use assistive technology such as screen readers to browse your site. Add descriptions to images and galleries using alt text to make them accessible to these visitors.
Alt text provides information about site media, and helps search engines and screen readers "read" them.
In this article, learn more about:
Where does Wix get its information?

Adding alt text in your editor

Alt text ensures that visitors using screen readers can access and understand the content on your site, so we recommend adding it to all relevant images, including media appearing in apps such as Wix Stores, Wix Bookings, etc.  

To single images

Add alt text to images in your site builder (Wix Editor and Studio Editor) from the Settings panel. 
Wix Editor
Studio Editor
  1. Go to your editor.
  2. Click the image on your page.
  3. Click the Settings icon .
  4. Enter a description of the image under What's in the image?.
  5. Press Enter on your keyboard to save.
The image settings panel in the Editor. The alt text field has been written, and the cursor is hovering over it.

To galleries

Use your site's Media Manager to add alternative text to gallery images.
Wix Editor
Studio Editor
  1. Go to your editor.
  2. Click the gallery on your page.
  3. Click Manage Media or Change Images.
  4. Click an image to select it.
  5. Enter a title for the image on the right.
  6. (For Wix Pro Gallery) Edit the alt text for your image under Alt Text if you want it to be different from your image's title.
  7. Click Done.
A Pro Gallery in the media manager. The alt text field is highlighted.
Tip:
Make sure to publish the site so the alt text is live.
Note:
It is not currently possible to add alt text to images / galleries in bulk. If you would like to see this feature, you can vote for it here.

Adding alt text in the Accessibility Wizard

While checking a site with the Accessibility Wizard, you may be prompted to add alt text to images. Use the task in the Wizard to provide a short, clear description for site visitors.
Wix Editor
Studio Editor
Use the Wizard to add alt text site images and images that appear in your Wix Stores and Bookings apps.

To add alt text to site images:

  1. Go to your editor.
  2. Click Settings at the top and select Accessibility Wizard
  3. Click Scan My Site in the Accessibility Wizard panel on the right. 
  4. Select cards titled Alt text.
  5. Enter the image description into the What's in the image? field.
  6. Click Set Alt Text.
The alt text card is open for an image. The alt text has been written, and the cursor is clicking Set Alt Text.

To add alt text to app images:

  1. Go to your editor.
  2. Click Settings at the top and select Accessibility Wizard
  3. Click Scan My Site in the Accessibility Wizard panel on the right. 
  4. Select the Stores / Bookings drop-down.
  5. Select cards titled Alt text.
  6. (For stores only) Select each product image / product variant image.
  7. Enter the image description into the What's in the image? field.
  8. Click Set Alt Text.
  9. Click Done.

The alt text field for a Stores product image has been filled. The Set Alt Text and Done buttons are highlighted..

Marking images as decorative

Decorative images are images that do not contribute to the content of the site, as they are there for aesthetic or decorative purposes only.
If an image on a site is decorative and is not relevant to the context, it is not necessary to add alt text. You can mark an image as 'decorative' in the Accessibility Wizard to ensure that search engines and screen readers automatically skip it.
Wix Editor
Studio Editor
  1. Go to your editor.
  2. Click Settings at the top and select Accessibility Wizard
  3. Click Scan My Site in the Accessibility Wizard panel on the right. 
  4. Select cards titled Alt text.
  5. Select the checkbox next to This image is decorative, it doesn't need a description.
Screenshot showing the decorative image option being ticked in the Accessibility Wizard.
Good to know:
You should add alt text to any images that contain links, and not mark them as decorative.

Text in images

This refers to images that contain pictured or added text. 
Text in images cannot be "read" by search engines or screen readers. However, if the image is necessary, and the text has context to the site, you can add it to the image description.
If the text does not have context or doesn't contribute to the content of the site, you do not need to add it to the image description.
Select an option below to learn more about image text you should and shouldn't add to the image description.

Images of text

Images of text contain only text, and no other pictured elements. Some examples of this include pictures of fonts, or logos that contain text only.
As they are not "real" text elements, images of text cannot be read by search engines or screenreaders. We recommend avoiding them where possible, and replacing them with real text elements to improve SEO and accessibility on your site. 
Next step:
Go back to the Accessibility Checklist to continue improving your site for accessibility.

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