Use alt tags for gallery images in editor

[yarnboy]

Gallery images do not include alt tag text in the WordPress editor. This presents a challenge for accessibility, and also adds a hurdle for writing plugins to force users to use alt tags (which is what I'm trying to do; I work for an institution that prioritizes web accessibility).

The solution to this problem is to make an edit to lines 1294 - 1302 in wp-includes/media-template.php, which currently appears this way:

							<# if ( attachment.thumbnail ) { #>
								<img src="{{ attachment.thumbnail.url }}" data-test="success" width="{{
								attachment
								.thumbnail.width }}" height="{{ attachment.thumbnail.height }}" alt="" />
							<# } else { #>
								<img src="{{ attachment.url }}" data-test="success" alt="" />
							<# } #>
							

And with my suggested edit:

							<# if ( attachment.thumbnail ) { #>
								<img src="{{ attachment.thumbnail.url }}" data-test="success" width="{{
								attachment
								.thumbnail.width }}" height="{{ attachment.thumbnail.height }}" alt="{{
								attachment.alt }}" />
							<# } else { #>
								<img src="{{ attachment.url }}" data-test="success" alt="{{ attachment.alt 
								}}" />
							<# } #>
							

[wpboss]

I have included alt tag text in the WordPress editor for the Gallery images

[wpboss]

Hello, @yarnboy Thanks for the reported. I have added above patch as per your suggestion. Now alt tag text incleded in the WordPress editor for the Gallery images.

[afercia]

@yarnboy @wpboss thanks the report and the patch!

Seems to me it's a good improvement for the Classic Editor. For the new Block Editor (Gutenberg), I see there's one more problem to solve. I'm going to report it on ​the Gutenberg GitHub repository.

Note for other reviewers: this relates to the alt attribute of gallery images within the editor.

[wpboss]

Thanks for the update @afercia.

So, Can I add same patch on ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/ or this patch will be auto included there?

[yarnboy]

Thanks @afercia! I'm pleased to have been able to contribute.

[afercia]

@wpboss the issue in Gutenberg is similar but the root cause is different, see ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/16886. There's the need for a different approach there. If you're comfortable with Gutenberg development, please do feel free to propose a pull request!

[afercia]

In 45725:

Accessibility: Fix the alt attribute of the Gallery images within the Classic Editor.

Passes the images alt attribute value to the Gallery template used within the Classic Editor.

Props yarnboy, wpboss.
Fixes #47687.

[audrasjb]

Reopening this so it can be back-ported to the 5.2 branch.
Adding needs-testing since we have to check it's ok to land in 5.2.3.

[audrasjb]

Tested on my side against 5.2.2, but unless I'm mistaken [45725] doesn't look to apply cleanly: media-template.php seems to have some dependancies to previous commits. Otherwise, it's good to go.

[JeffPaul]

@afercia any insight into what commit(s) this may depend upon? If we're unsure, then we'll likely move this ticket back to 5.3. to limit risk in 5.2.3.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 45865:

Accessibility: Fix the alt attribute of the Gallery images within the Classic Editor.

Passes the images alt attribute value to the Gallery template used within the Classic Editor.

Props yarnboy, wpboss.
Merges [45725] to the 5.2 branch.
Fixes #47687.