When you post clever images and trenchant memes on social media, people with vision disabilities miss out on your inventive wit because screen readers don’t pick up photos and images. However, built-in options exist that add alt text to social media and Daily Kos images, while DIY aids teach alt text composition for various types of images such as photographs, comics, graphs. You won’t leave part of your audience out of the joke or explanation if you use these tools.
First, know the main difference between alt text and image description is how they appear online. Alt text is hardwired to the image and shows up when you put your cursor on an image. These embedded descriptions are accessible to screen readers (text to voice) and to search engines. Image descriptions are not embedded in images but added as captions or in the text body. Jump below the meeting reminder to see how-to examples.
KosAbility's monthly meeting will be Sunday 28 November 2020 at 4PM PT
The lead image for this story shows both an image description in the caption and alt text as a popup when you put your cursor on the photo. (This seems to vary depending on device and browser. If you don’t see the alt text, try clicking on the image. It’s really there and screen readers will find it.) Only alt text reports the words on the photo and only image description/caption fully describes the scene because the caption and the alt text have different purposes. Imagine someone is sitting with you who cannot see the image, what do they want to know? Include any important text in the image and names of individuals shown.
Here is a screenshot showing where I added the alt text to the image in the Daily Kos Image Library. This is the text I added in the “Description” field of the right panel that should appear as a popup when you put a cursor on the image: Wolf with dark brown gold flecked fur walks across a shallow stream. Words in the top left read Needs Alt Text.
The text added in the “Description” section will be embedded in the image and appear as a popup when your cursor is on the image AND will be picked up by screen readers.
A quick guide to adding alt text on social media — Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To access alt text on the video, click the CC icon in the bottom right. CathyM reported, in comments here, that the Twitter method shown in the video isn’t how it works for her, and I tested this out and it is different for me, too on MacBook Air and iPhone. When I load an image into a black tweet, I see a message “add description” that I can click on and get a box where I type in the alt text to add.
For more details on how to add and what to include in alt text, see these resources.
Write good Alt Text to describe images
“Alternative (Alt) Text is meant to convey the “why” of the image as it relates to the content of a document or webpage. It is read aloud to users by screen reader software, and it is indexed by search engines. It also displays on the page if the image fails to load….”
Technique: Writing alternative text
“The most appropriate alternative text for an image depends very much on the context of the image in question. You must provide information for that image that takes into account its purpose and also the surrounding text on the page. The same image might need different alternative text depending on how it's used....”
President-elect Joe Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris are accessible.
Our on-going accessibility effort works towards conforming to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1, level AA criteria.These guidelines not only help make web content accessible to users with sensory, cognitive and mobility disabilities, but ultimately to all users, regardless of ability.
If you experience any difficulty using this site, or you have feedback that will help us to provide a better user experience, please contact us at accessibility@bidentransition.org
Image is a large rainbow dominated by orange to red bands that touches the ground and extends straight up into the sky.
Kosability is BY and FOR
- PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIEs;
- WHO LOVE SOMEONE WITH A DISABILITY; OR
- WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE ISSUES.
OUR DISCUSSIONS ARE OPEN THREADS IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS COMMUNITY.
FEEL FREE TO
- COMMENT ON THE DIARY TOPIC;
- ASK QUESTIONS OF THE DIARIST OR GENERALLY TO EVERYONE;
- SHARE SOMETHING YOU'VE LEARNED; OR
- gripe ABOUT YOUR SITUATION.
OUR ONLY RULE IS TO BE KIND.
bullies WILL BE ignored and/or obliterated.
for more elaboration on our group rule please read this story.
At KosAbility we amicably discuss any and all matters pertaining to health. Our discussions are not medical advice. Medical advice can only be provided by a qualified physician who has examined the patient. If you have worrisome symptoms please see your doctor!
|
Our meeting will be held in two weeks
Sunday 28 Nov 2020 at 4PM PST (7PM EST)
