Accessibility

image-alt-text

Require meaningful alt text on every <img> element.

Flags <img> tags missing the alt attribute or shipping a generic placeholder ("image", "photo"). AI generators routinely omit alt entirely; the rule keeps the SEO + a11y promise of every image carrying its description.

Behavior

• Fixable: No.
• Suggestions: Yes.
• Maps to: WCAG 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

Examples

Bad:

<img src="hero.png" />

Good:

<img src="hero.png" alt="Product screenshot showing dashboard" />

Related rules

• responsive-image-optimizationFlag <img> elements missing loading, width/height, or srcset.
• icon-accessibilityRequire icons to carry an accessible name or be marked decorative.
• aria-validationForbid invalid ARIA roles and unknown aria-* attributes.

Use it

Enable image-alt-text in your eslint.config.js:

import deslint from '@deslint/eslint-plugin';

export default [
  {
    plugins: { deslint },
    rules: {
      'deslint/image-alt-text': 'error',
    },
  },
];

Found a false positive? Report it on GitHub →

← Back to all rules