Image Alternate Text and Title Attribute Disappear

For good practice on accessibility reason, since WP 3.5 the image title is not used when inserting img into post content, it’s still be used as title for media/attachment page, I guess.

Use this plugin if you have a good reason to use image title the way it used to be.
https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/restore-image-title/

Accessibility: Title attribute should not be added to image markup by media.php
https://core.trac.www.ads-software.com/ticket/18984

Thank you, Paul.

That’s really hard to understand.

Does that mean Alternate Text is good? But, the Attribute thing is bad?

Why is the Atribute thing bad?

My All-in-One-SEO said I should fill in both…

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by considerthis1. Reason: misspelling

One SEO is encouraging bad practice if they’re encouraging the ‘title’ attribute.

Alternative text is good.

Can you outline the problem you’re facing when you’re “moving” an image?

Hi Andrew,
So, I should take out all the Title Attributes that I filled in?
It’s the SEO that I thought WordPress favored. All-in-One-SEO.

Okay, so I was filling in all of those: Caption, Alternative and Attribute. Then, if I used the x to close the image so I could put it a few paragraphs down, all the image information disappeared. Sometime the caption would stay, but not always. And, if I added the image and filled in the caption, then put the image on a page, the caption was gone…

Why is the Attribute thing there, if we aren’t supposed to use it????

??

Thank you for responding… I hope this isn’t too many additional questions.

Karen

Why is the Attribute thing there, if we aren’t supposed to use it????

Assuming this field is being generated by a plugin; the developers of the plugin were incorrect on their knowledge of search engine optimisation. It is bad to stuff keywords into title attributes, captions and alternative text in order to satisfy search engines. Instead captions and alternative text should be considered with the user in-mind.

If an image conveys real information then that information needs to be available in the alternative text. If not, adding information in alternative text, captions and even title attributes will make your website difficult to use for everyone. This is particularly an issue for people using assistive technologies. Google understands this.

It’s the SEO that I thought WordPress favored. All-in-One-SEO.

These plugins are not endorsed by WordPress, they just have a lot of good ratings from users.

Thank you Andrew,

I was NOT stuffing key words. My website is about health, especially as related to low vitamin B12 levels. I’ve used a lot of images to help keep the attention of people who visit, but some of the images are somewhat poetic, like a black and white picture of a cat sitting in a window with its head hanging down… for depression.

The way the attribute thing was explained was that it could add something beyond the Alternate Text, so I used that space to add clarification re the image.

I do not know if the plugin adds the field.

I checked on another of my sites and the plugin does NOT add the field. The field is a part, apparently, of what WordPress does.

It’s a bit irritating that you assumed I was stuffing key words, rather than trying to give information.

Again, why does WORDPRESS include the field, if we are not supposed to use it?

It doesn’t. The Title attribute field was removed in WordPress 3.5. If you don’t know what is generating this field then try deactivating your plugins to explore whether any could be responsible. If none are, it’s probably a feature from your theme.

A lot of people misuse these additional attributes and search engine optimisation plugins don’t do enough to discourage it. I’m sorry I’ve offended you, but the point it still important for future readers.

I went to one of my sites without SEO and found the field was still there.

I feel less trusting of your advice since you accused me of stuffing key words.

I found this which I think is helpful. I will, having read it, go back and take the Title Attribute out of all the places I filed it in, in scores of pages…

I had a sinking feeling about the title attribute for a while, but hadn’t seen anything definitive until I came across the aptly named “I thought title text improved accessibility. I was wrong.”:

So if you’ve been adding descriptive text into the title attribute, don’t. Blind users won’t hear it. It’s next to useless. This common misconception could lead to important information being completely inaccessible by the people who it’s intended for.

An article with even nittier-grittier details, “Using the HTML title attribute”, comes from the Paciello Group blog, an excellent source for web accessibility information.

The HTML title attribute is problematic. It is problematic because it is not well supported in some crucial respects, even though it has been with us for over 14 years. With the rise of touch screen interfaces, the usefulness of this attribute has decreased. The accessibility of the title attribute has fallen victim to a unfortunate combination of poor browser support, poor screen reader support and poor authoring practices.

Apparently, however newer articles say that Chrome supports title attributes on images.

Using Title Attributes on images is what I was doing. That is apparently not a bad thing to do even though not all browsers support them.

I missed the comma after however…

Finally, when I hover my cursor over an image on my site, the Title Attribute comes up in a little banner thing. The Alternate Text doesn’t show in any way.

Here is an excellent video on why it’s important to fill in the Title Attribute and Alternate Text in order for Google Bots to properly categorize images.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/114016?hl=en

It would be great if WordPress were improved to retain the image information once it is filled into the fields.