# Alt Text & ARIA — HTML Fundamentals: Structure, Forms and Accessibility

Source: https://www.skillbyai.com/en/html/html-alt-aria

> Make content usable for screen readers with alt text, empty alt for decorative images and aria-label.

## Alt text isn't optional

A screen reader speaks the `alt` text aloud in place of an image. A decorative image should use `alt=""` so it's skipped, not left without alt at all.

## aria-label

When an element has no visible text (like an icon button), `aria-label` gives assistive tech something to announce.

```html
<button aria-label="Close dialog">&times;</button>
```

**Quiz:** What should a purely decorative image's alt attribute be?

- [ ] Omitted entirely
- [ ] A long description
- [ ] The page title
- [x] An empty string alt=""

*Answer:* An empty string alt="". `alt=""` tells screen readers to skip it silently, which is correct for purely decorative images.