What to write for accessible graphics & photos

What to write for accessible graphics & photos

Alt text (alternate text) are the words used to describe an image when an image is not able to be seen on a computer particularly to support people who use audio readers. Here are a few tips on how to write appropriate alt text to explain images.

Only use 130 characters (approx. 16 words) to put the image in context for a person using an audio reader. It is not useful to give all the details of the image.

For example writing ‘Two children with blue & red t-shirts’ doesn’t not explaining the context, instead write ‘Two children standing on different height crates all able to look over fence’ – this explains why the image has been.

For logos put in the actual name of the organisation (and don’t add in a the word logo at the end).

If an image is only for impact and not to help you understand the information, simply call it a spacer image or something similar.

Please feel free to contact me with any feedback and I will update this post.