ShipworkSite inspection
Checks
Every error, explainedGuides →
Pricing Learn Guides

Are your images accessible and stable as they load?

Alt text describes an image to screen readers and image search. Width and height reserve its space so the page does not jump. Lazy loading keeps off-screen images from competing with what the visitor actually sees.

Runs the Images check against a bounded sample of your site, from outside your network. Nothing is stored.

What this check inspects

Shipwork parses the img tags in a page and counts three things: images with no alt attribute at all, images missing width or height, and images not marked loading=lazy. An empty alt, which is the correct markup for a decorative image, is reported separately so real omissions are not hidden by it. It records the first hundred images with their source, alt and loading values.

What a failure means

Images with no alt attribute are an error: screen readers announce nothing and image search cannot interpret them. Missing dimensions are a warning because they cause layout shift. More than a few non-lazy images is informational.

How to fix it

  1. Give content images a short, specific alt attribute that describes what the image shows.
  2. Use an empty alt, alt="", for genuinely decorative images so they are skipped rather than announced.
  3. Set width and height attributes so the browser reserves space before the image loads.
  4. Add loading=lazy to images below the fold, but leave the main product image eager so it does not delay the largest paint.

A typical failure, worked through

The setupA store marks every product gallery image decorative, including the main image, because the theme author used an empty alt to avoid double-reading with the caption.

What the check reportsThe check reports few missing alt attributes but many empty ones, and notes that empty alt is correct only for decorative images. The main product image is invisible to image search.

The pointAn empty alt is a deliberate statement, not a neutral default. Reserve it for images that carry no information.

Questions

Is an empty alt the same as no alt?
No. An empty alt marks an image as decorative, so assistive tech skips it. A missing alt attribute leaves the image without a description and is treated as an error.
Why do width and height matter?
They let the browser reserve the image space before it loads, which prevents the content around it from jumping. That jump is cumulative layout shift.
Should the main product image be lazy loaded?
Usually not. Lazy loading the largest image on the page delays it and can worsen Largest Contentful Paint. Lazy load everything below the fold instead.

Related checks and guides