[wp-hackers] Alt text for images wrong or empty in wp_get_attachment_image()

[Karl Wångstedt]

Hi all

I have found a bug in 2.9 where the alt-text for images called via wp_get_attachment_image() is missing or wrong. The function generates the alt-text from the post_excerpt field instead of the (new) postmeta field with meta_key "_wp_attachment_image_alt". This causes the alt text to not be set even though the media editor clearly states that the "Alternate text" field is being used as alt text for the image.

I have committed a bug and a patch to trac here: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/11846

There could be a good thing to expand the function to check if the alt-text is set, and if not use the post_excerpt for the image instead. If neither the alt-text nor caption is set the title should be used as alt-text.

I think it it is an accessibility problem if the alt-text is left empty. Especially since the title is required for the image in the media uploader.

Please review the trac entry and see what you guys think.

Karl Wångstedt