Write Clear Image Alt Text with Voice Dictation

The article is ready, the images are uploaded, and the alternative text field is still empty. You can explain why each image belongs on the page, but turning that explanation into a short description feels like another writing task.

Voice dictation gives you a starting point. Open the image beside a draft on your Mac, say what matters, and edit the resulting text before placing it in your publishing tool. You supply the visual judgment and context; dictation captures your words, not the contents of the image.

1. Decide what the image does on this page

Before speaking, use the W3C alt decision tree to identify the image's role. A description is not always the right answer.

• Informative: Describe the meaning the image contributes. See W3C guidance on informative images.
• Decorative: Use an empty alternative, alt="", rather than omitting the attribute. See decorative images.
• A link or button's only label: Communicate the destination or action. See functional images.
• A complex chart or diagram: Pair a short alternative with an accessible detailed explanation. See complex images.

Make that choice before drafting. It prevents you from carefully polishing a description that the page does not need.

2. Answer three prompts out loud

For an informative image, try these prompts in a scratch document:

• What is the main subject or action?
• Which visible detail matters to this particular article?
• What would I need to explain if I could not point at the image?

Keep the image and the surrounding paragraph visible while you speak. Do one image at a time, and label the draft with its filename so that descriptions do not get swapped during a batch upload.

Speak naturally on the first pass. You can remove “there is,” repeated phrases, and abandoned starts during editing. The goal is to capture the useful observation before worrying about a polished sentence.

3. Turn a spoken observation into useful alt text

Imagine a packing guide with a photograph showing the inside of a laptop bag. In this fictional example, the photograph adds the compartment layout, which the surrounding paragraph does not describe.

Spoken draft: “The bag is open on the desk. You can see the laptop in that padded sleeve, and the charger is in a separate pocket with a zip. The useful thing is that they are stored separately. There is also a plant behind the bag.”

Edited alt text:

Open laptop bag with a laptop in a padded sleeve and a charger in a separate zipped pocket.

The edit keeps the relevant arrangement and drops the drafting commentary and background plant. It does not invent a brand, capacity, or claim that the bag prevents damage. This is the same observation-to-editing habit used when writing product descriptions.

4. Check the words against the image

Compare the draft with the actual asset, not your memory of it. Correct misheard product names, interface labels, and numbers. Remove details you cannot verify. Read the sentence beside the page text to catch unnecessary repetition or missing context.

For another language version, review the localized page and image together. If a screenshot still shows an English button label, preserve that label accurately when it is needed to identify the control; do not invent a translated interface.

5. Finish in the publishing tool

Place the reviewed text in the image's alternative text field, then check the saved result. For a decorative image, verify that your editor's setting produces the intended empty alternative. Keep the filename-to-description notes until the upload is checked, particularly when images have similar thumbnails.

Add this review to your blog drafting workflow so image descriptions are handled alongside the article, not left as an unexplained empty field at the end.

TypeFree is a simple way to turn speech into editable text and write faster. Describe one image in your own words, then refine that draft into alt text that fits its purpose on the page.