Imagine your website is not just code, but a conversation. When a person with a visual impairment visits it, their screen reader becomes their eyes. But what if, instead of an important chart about social benefits, they only hear "IMG_2024.jpg"? That conversation has just ended. And that is a shame, because a few characters of alt text are enough for your website to start truly speaking to people – and to stop collecting needlessly critical accessibility scores.
A small detail that changes lives
Since December 2025, Index CSGOV has been monitoring how open our (not only) government websites are to everyone. The data is clear: 46% of websites fail at image descriptions (alt texts). That is not a disgrace, but above all a huge opportunity for improvement.
When you give an image a meaningful alt text, you are not doing it for the law (even though WCAG rule 1.1.1 is unambiguous). You are doing it so that everyone can reach your information. Without barriers.
How to become a master of alt texts?
Writing alt texts is essentially a creative discipline. Forget robotic lists. These four tips will help you:
- Be a storyteller: Instead of "photo building" write alt="The Ministry of the Interior headquarters at Letná bathed in sunlight." See the difference?
- Give charts a voice: If a chart shows growth, say so. alt="The chart shows a 15% increase in benefit applications." The person on the other side does not need to see the curve, they need to know the result.
- Silence is sometimes golden: Is the image just a decorative squiggle? Then use an empty attribute alt="". The screen reader will elegantly skip it and the user can focus on what matters.
- Don't withhold important information: Ask yourself: "If I deleted this image, would the reader lose any information?"
The path to perfection is simple
Improving the accessibility of your website is not a multi-year project. It is a series of small, winning steps.
- Find the weak spots: Don't guess where your errors are. Go straight to index.csgov.cz. Our tool will immediately show you how your website compares with others and exactly where the shoe pinches. It is your digital compass.
- Fix with joy: Adding alt="Description" to an HTML <img> tag takes seconds, but its value is permanent.
- Verify it: Try closing your eyes for a moment and turning on a screen reader (NVDA, for example), then listen to your website. It is a fascinating experience that will immediately tell you where to cut back and where to add.
A bonus that pleases search engines too
The best part of it all is that what blind users love, Google loves too. Quality image descriptions dramatically improve your SEO. By helping people, you are also helping your website become more discoverable.
Accessibility is not an obligation to tick off. Since it belongs to the critical aspects of accessibility, much like contrast issues, it is an outstretched hand and proof that you care about your users. Let's build a digital world together in which no one is left standing in front of closed doors.