Write good alt text for my images
Every image on your site can carry a short written description called alt text. It does two jobs at once: blind visitors hear it instead of seeing the image, and Google and AI search engines read it to understand what you make. For an artist, that second job is how your actual work — not just your name — becomes findable.
How it works
- Get your access prompt. Log in to bernard, open your site, and copy the prompt from Edit with AI (it contains a key that works for 12 hours).
- Paste it into your AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whichever you already use — then ask it to audit your alt text using the prompt above. It reports the gaps first; you choose which images get new descriptions.
- Approve. The new descriptions land on a draft and the AI sends back a preview link. Read them — they're your words about your work — then press Approve.
Describe the work, not the file
The test for alt text is simple: would someone who can't see the image learn what it shows? "Image of painting" fails; "Large abstract canvas in ochre and rust, heavy palette-knife texture" passes. For artwork, the title, medium and a sensory phrase or two usually does it. Keep it to a sentence — alt text is a description, not an essay — and skip openers like "image of" or "photo of"; screen readers already announce that it's an image.
If you're the AI doing this: read each page and report images whose alt text is missing,
empty, a filename, or generic, then wait for the owner to choose. When writing, describe
subject, medium and mood in one plain sentence; use the work's title where the page
gives one; never start with "image of"; and never invent details you can't see in the
surrounding content — ask the owner instead. Purely decorative images (spacers,
flourishes) should get empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
The prompt
“Check the images on my site for missing or weak alt text and report what you find first — don't change anything until I choose. For the ones I pick, write alt text that genuinely describes the work, not just 'image of painting'.”
The [bracketed] parts are yours to fill in. First time? Log in to bernard → your site → Edit with AI → copy your access prompt, paste that into your AI first, then ask the above.
Questions people ask
- What is alt text and why does my website need it?
- Alt text is the written description attached to an image. Blind and partially sighted visitors hear it read aloud, and Google and AI search read it to understand what your images show — so good alt text helps both audiences at once.
- What does good alt text for artwork look like?
- Describe the actual work: subject, medium, mood, colour — 'Oil painting of a winter harbour at dusk, fishing boats in blue-grey light' tells everyone something. 'Image of painting' tells no one anything.
- Can AI write alt text for all my images at once?
- Yes — ask it to find images with missing or weak alt text and report them first, then write descriptions for the ones you choose. The changes sit on a draft until you check the preview and press Approve, so you can read every description before it goes live.