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Alt text, heading and link text checker

Paste a page or a piece of HTML and get a list of image, heading and link problems, with line numbers, the WCAG criterion and how to fix each one.

Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to our servers.

Paste your HTML

What next?

This only covers the HTML you pasted. How many pages on the site have the same problems? This tool looks at one thing at a time. It cannot tell you whether a whole website meets a standard or a law.

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How it works

  1. Your HTML is read as text by a small parser that runs in your browser. Scripts are not run and nothing is loaded.
  2. Images are checked for a missing alt, an alt that looks like a file name or a placeholder, a leading "image of", and very long alt text. Empty alt is noted as decoration.
  3. Headings are collected into an outline and checked for skipped levels, empty headings, and a missing or repeated h1.
  4. Links get a name the way assistive technology would find it, from aria-labelledby, aria-label, the link text with image alt text, or the title. Empty names and vague names are flagged.
  5. Each finding shows the line number, the code, the WCAG criterion (or marks it as best practice) and a suggested fix. You can copy the whole report.

Questions

What does this checker look at?

Three things: image text alternatives (missing alt, alt that is a file name or placeholder, alt that starts with "image of", very long alt), heading order (skipped levels, empty headings, no or several h1) and link text (empty links, and vague text like "click here" or "read more").

Can it tell if my alt text is good?

No. A tool can check the form of alt text, not its meaning. Whether the text describes the picture and fits its purpose on the page needs a person to read it.

When should alt text be empty?

When an image is purely decorative, or repeats information that is already in the text beside it. An empty alt (alt="") tells screen readers to skip it. The tool lists these as notes so you can confirm each one is really decoration.

Is a skipped heading level a WCAG failure?

Not by itself. WCAG 1.3.1 asks that structure be available to assistive technology, and a jump from h2 to h4 makes the outline harder to follow. It is listed as a warning so you can look at it, not as a certain failure.

Is my HTML sent anywhere?

No. The text is read by code that runs in your browser tab. It is not executed, nothing in it is loaded (no images, no scripts) and nothing is uploaded.

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