A webpage is not always broken because of a large mistake. Small details can produce exactly this problem: debugging: image not found. This guide shows you what to look for, a concrete fix, and how to check that it worked.
The Idea in Plain English
Image paths are resolved relative to the page or base URL, and file names can be case-sensitive on the server.
You can test this using a small local HTML file. Change one part at a time and check the result in the browser before adding more code.
A Working Example
The first part shows a problem. The second part shows a safer or more accurate version. Compare them before reading the explanation.
<!-- Problem -->
<img src="photos/Star.png" alt="Night sky">
<!-- Corrected example -->
<img src="../images/star.png" alt="Night sky" width="500" height="300">What Each Part Does
- The img displays an image and uses alt for its text alternative.
- src points to the asset the browser should load.
- alt supplies replacement text for an informative image or empty text for a decorative one.
- width reserves the image or embedded resource’s intended horizontal dimension.
Before the fix, the browser can behave incorrectly or report a warning. After the change, test the exact failure rather than assuming the page is fixed.
Try It Yourself
Open the image URL in a tab and compare its letter casing and directory with the deployed file.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Check the underlying cause before changing unrelated tags.
- Copying the code without checking whether its linked files or endpoints exist; sample addresses and file paths need real resources.
- Choosing a tag only because its default appearance looks right, without checking whether it describes the content correctly.
Key Takeaways
- Image paths are resolved relative to the page or base URL, and file names can be case-sensitive on the server.
- Before the fix, the browser can behave incorrectly or report a warning. After the change, test the exact failure rather than assuming the page is fixed.
- Test the markup in a browser, and check accessibility and real-world behavior where relevant.