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Understanding and Managing Image Attributes in Spectra Blocks

15 threads Sep 10, 2025 Plugin → Spectra gutenberg blocks – website builder for the block editor

Content

Many users of the Spectra Gutenberg Blocks plugin encounter challenges with image attributes, particularly the alt text and title attributes. These elements are crucial for SEO, accessibility, and user experience. This guide explains the common issues and the current methods to manage them.

The Core Issue

Based on community discussions, the primary challenge is that Spectra blocks often do not have dedicated fields for alt or title attributes within the block's settings panel. This can lead to several problems:

  • SEO Limitations: Search engines rely on alt text to understand image content. The inability to set unique, page-specific alt text for images inside blocks (like a Gallery or Post Grid) can hinder a site's SEO, especially for multilingual sites requiring different keywords per language.
  • Accessibility Concerns: Screen readers use alt text and aria-label attributes to describe images to visually impaired users. Missing these attributes, as noted in errors from tools like Google Speed Insights, creates accessibility barriers.
  • Unexpected Behavior: Some users report that when editing a page with the Block Editor after using the Classic Editor to add title attributes, the Block Editor may overwrite and remove those manually added attributes.

Why This Happens

The Spectra plugin primarily pulls the alt text from the WordPress Media Library. For many blocks, it does not generate a separate interface to override this default value on a per-block or per-page basis. Features like dynamic title attributes for links or images in blocks are not part of the plugin's current core feature set, though the development team has acknowledged these as valuable suggestions for future updates.

Current Solutions and Workarounds

1. Using the WordPress Media Library

The most straightforward method for setting alt text is to use the central WordPress Media Library. This is the default source for Spectra.

  1. Navigate to Media > Library in your WordPress dashboard.
  2. Click on an image and edit its details.
  3. Enter your desired Alt Text in the provided field on the right-hand side.
  4. Save your changes. This alt text will now be used wherever this image appears across your site.

Limitation: This method is global. The same alt text will be used for that image on every page, which is not ideal for multilingual sites or pages where the image's context changes.

2. Feature Requests and Future Updates

For needs that cannot be met by the Media Library, such as per-instance alt text, title attributes, or aria-labels, the recommended path is to submit a feature request. The Spectra team has been documented as responsive to community feedback. Many of the attributes discussed in community threads have already been logged by the team for consideration in future development cycles. While there is no public timeline for these additions, expressing your need for them helps prioritize development.

3. Custom Development

For users with development skills, custom code can be a powerful solution. A developer can write a filter hook to modify the output of a Spectra block to inject custom alt text, title, or aria-label attributes based on specific conditions. This approach offers maximum flexibility but requires coding knowledge to implement safely.

Conclusion

Managing image attributes in Spectra currently revolves around using the WordPress Media Library for site-wide alt text and providing feedback to the Spectra team for more granular control. While the lack of block-level settings can be a limitation for advanced SEO and accessibility scenarios, understanding these workarounds can help you maintain best practices while the plugin continues to evolve.

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