Discourse has introduced a new feature allowing users to edit image alt text directly in the composer preview, improving accessibility for screen reader users and SEO indexing. Users can now click a pencil icon beneath an image to add or modify alt text without manually editing markdown—making the process more intuitive, especially for those unfamiliar with markdown or cryptic filenames. nat demonstrated the feature with a GIF and linked to accessibility guidelines. Decorbuz asked whether this differs from manual markdown editing and whether alt text can be fully removed; nat confirmed there’s no functional difference and no validation preventing empty alt text. Decorbuz acknowledged the clarification. debryc praised the feature and suggested a future enhancement: a pop-up prompt when adding images (toggleable via settings) to encourage alt text entry. The feature is part of ongoing efforts to improve accessibility and usability on the platform.
To better support our friends on screen readers, and help with indexing on search engines, we’ve introduced the ability to edit your image’s alt text in the preview. We hope this feature can make it easier to update our image descriptions!
To enter a description you can press the pencil icon at the bottom of an image and enter a description. This saves time cause you no longer need to edit the markdown directly.
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I have two questions.
Otherwise, this will be very convenient for me. 
I assume you mean removing the alt text from the composer: no, there is no difference. Some users get intimidated by modifying the markdown directly, especially when filenames may become cryptic, so this is a good alternative.
We’ve not added any validation to ensure alt texts are always present. So no errors yet 
Okay, thank you for clarifying.
I just tried it! Worked great! Thank you.
I continue to advocate for a pop-up option (like the add link interface) that appears whenever someone adds an image (can be a setting that’s turned on or off). Hoping that’s in the plans 