Alt text examples › Charts & graphs
A chart exists to make a point. Its alt text should state that point and the key numbers, not the chart type alone. When the chart holds more data than one sentence can carry, keep the alt short and put the full data in a table or caption next to it.
| # | The image | Bad alt | Good alt | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bar chart of monthly revenue, Jan to Jun 2026, rising from 12k to 31k | bar chart | Bar chart: monthly revenue grew from $12k in January to $31k in June 2026 | States the trend and the endpoints. A screen-reader user gets the same takeaway as a sighted reader in one sentence. |
| 2 | Line chart comparing two products' sign-ups over 12 months | graph showing data | Line chart: Product A sign-ups overtook Product B in May and ended the year 40% higher | The comparison is the point of a two-line chart, so lead with it. |
| 3 | Pie chart of traffic sources: 52% organic, 28% direct, 12% social, 8% email | pie chart of traffic sources in blue, orange, green and grey | Pie chart of traffic sources: organic 52%, direct 28%, social 12%, email 8% | Colors mean nothing without sight. With four slices, list them all: it fits in one sentence. |
| 4 | Complex dashboard with 6 charts and 40 data points | Dashboard showing revenue, users, churn, MRR, ARPU, sessions… (300 words) | Q3 sales dashboard; key figures are listed in the table below | Long alt text cannot be navigated or paused. Give a short alt and put the data in an HTML table next to the image. |
| 5 | Scatter plot showing correlation between ad spend and sales | scatter.png | Scatter plot: higher ad spend correlates with higher sales, with one outlier at $50k spend and low sales | Describe the relationship and any outlier the text discusses. |
| 6 | Stacked bar chart repeating numbers already written in the paragraph above | Stacked bar chart of 2026 budget by department: engineering 45%, sales 30%, ops 25% | Stacked bar chart of the 2026 budget by department, as described above | If the surrounding text already contains the data, the alt can point to it instead of repeating it word for word. |
| 7 | Flowchart of a 4-step checkout process | flowchart | Flowchart of checkout: cart, then shipping details, then payment, then confirmation | For process diagrams, give the sequence. That is the information the shape encodes. |
| 8 | Sparkline next to a stock ticker in a table | small line chart | Up 4% over 30 days | Tiny inline charts summarise a trend; the trend is the whole alt. |
WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A): complex images need a short text alternative that identifies them plus a longer description elsewhere (a table, caption, or linked text). WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color also applies: do not rely on color names alone to distinguish series. The full requirement is explained in our guide to WCAG 1.1.1 alt text requirements.
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