Guides / Image alternatives

Decorative is a deliberate choice

An empty alternative differs from a missing attribute.

W3C WAI explains that purely decorative images can use an empty text alternative, written as alt="". Leaving out the attribute is a different action and may expose an unhelpful filename.

Decide per use

A leaf illustration beside a heading may contribute no information beyond the heading. The same illustration in an identification exercise may carry essential meaning. Classifying the file as decorative forever would lose this distinction.

What this editor exports

Selecting Decorative disables the draft field. HTML and CSV exports use an empty alternative. A previous text draft remains in the JSON backup, allowing you to restore it when the purpose changes. The source preview still has a label for this authoring workspace; it is not your publication draft.

Do not silence unfinished work

Blank informative drafts cannot be marked reviewed. Batch HTML export stays unavailable until every draft is explicitly reviewed. This keeps a missing description from silently becoming decorative. Read the W3C decorative image tutorial for actual page examples, and revisit the decision when the image moves to another page.