Alt text is very long

Why it matters

Screen reader users cannot pause, skim or re-read part of an alt text — it plays in one go. Long descriptions belong in the caption or the text around the image, where everyone can read them.

Who it affects: Blind and low-vision people using screen readers, people who turn images off to save data, and search engines.

What Lumtera flags

Alt text longer than 150 characters.

Check ID image-alt-long — use it to filter the content report or with wp lumtera issues --rule.

How to fix it in WordPress

Keep alt text to a sentence or two. If the image carries detailed information — a chart, a diagram, a map — give a short alt text and put the full description in the caption or the surrounding text.

In the block editor, the issue opens the image's alternative text field so you can fix it straight away. The alt text manager can also fix the same image everywhere it is used.

Example

<img src="q3.png" alt="This chart shows revenue for July which was 12,400 dollars, August which was 13,100 dollars and September which was …">

<figure><img src="q3.png" alt="Revenue rose each month in Q3"><figcaption>July $12,400 · August $13,100 · September $15,800</figcaption></figure>

How to check your fix

1. Update the post. The issue disappears from the Accessibility sidebar on the next check, and from the site report on the next scan.
2. Turn on a screen reader (VoiceOver on Mac: Cmd + F5; NVDA on Windows is free) and move through the image. You should hear a description that makes sense in context — or nothing at all for decoration.