The Add Media button in WordPress visual composer is not only for uploading and inserting images but it is also used to put additional media information and links. There are two main tabs present in the Insert Media window—upload files and media library. You can either upload files from your system or choose previously uploaded images. Once an image is selected, there are options or attachment details which are displayed on the right.
Under Attachment Details you will find a couple of options that are editable. The URL remains the same and is for informative purpose only. The rest of the information which are title, alt text, caption and description are editable. You can input text in those fields. Additionally, there are other attachment display settings which are for setting image alignment, link and size. For additional editing options there is the “Edit Original” button in the media manager.
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Alt Text vs. Image Title
Besides setting a proper file name, an image has two tags namely—alt text and title. Here is how they look when the HTML source is viewed.
[html light=”true”]<img title="Title for Image" alt="Alternative Text for Image" src="http://www.wpcraze.com/images/wordpress.jpg" />[/html]
Note: The arrangement does not matter so the tags might not be in the same order. There might be additional information like image class.
Although they might not seem that important or different from each other, they are actually useful in describing images to search engines and people. Most bloggers might even set the same image title and alt tag.
But here is how they are meant to be used:
Alt Text: This is the alternative information for users who cannot view the image. Some users choose to disable images in their browsers and sometimes there are errors in loading up the image. This is the text that shows up when images are not loaded. On-screen readers will also read this text.
Image Title: This element tag is for providing information about the image. The information will show up when a user hovers their mouse pointer over the image. So, make it catchy and descriptive.
Alternative Text and Image Title Attribute in WordPress
Alternative Text: You can set alternative text for images in two ways. Immediately after uploading or selecting an image, the right side panel shows an Alt Text field. Set it and insert the image in your post. This alt text will be used for the individual attachment page as well as in your post. You can make it unique in your post or page by selecting an image and clicking on edit.
Image Title Attribute: To set a title for an image, select an image already present in the post and click on the edit button. In the image details under advanced options, you will find the image title attribute. Set it to what you want to display when the users’ mouse is over the image. Make it catchy if a link is present in the image.
Title: There is also a title field which appears in the add media window. It is a separate title and isn’t used in the post for the image title attribute. The title is for the attachment page which is a separate page created for each and every uploaded media file. This attachment page is like a separate post containing only the image and the comments feature for it is also available. Most webmasters don’t use this feature. But if the Link to option is set to Attachment page then the image will have the link to it.
Final Words
It is wise to use both the alternative text and image title attribute. But use them only when required. It is not always necessary to have both of them. Having an alternative text is convenient when images aren’t loading and for search engine optimization. This alt text is supposed to describe the image. The title tag is also helpful to make the images on a page user friendly. But don’t misuse them and stuff them with lots of texts hoping to get good search engine rankings.