alt="A black background with the words, 'You didn't come this far to only come this far in a white font.'"
That alternative text describes the header image. Now if you can see that, then you know what the picture is and what message it is trying to convey. Low-vision users and Blind people won't.
So why is having alternative text so important? There are reasons why. If you have seen the tweets that are put out there that have images and no alt text to go along with the images, then you have undoubtedly seen someone from the accessibility space imploring people to use alt text.
I'm here to tell you why. Because it matters.
- Screen reader users depend on it.
- Persons with visual or cognitive disabilities depend on it.
- Everyone depends on it when an image does not load.
Those are reasons good enough to include alt text in your images.
But what if I don't want to be bothered with having to write something for every image that is in this... (site, project, my tweets)?
Do it. It doesn't take more than five minutes of your time. A clear and concise description of the image and what it is conveying is more than enough. It's inclusive, it's accessible, and it's the right thing to do.
Decorative Images
Just add an empty/null alt text and you're good to go. Easy as that.
Infographics, Graphs, and Charts. Oh my!
For these, you want to add clear labels, have good color contrast on shapes, allow for text to be zoomed, and provide a text alternative for Blind users using an accessible HTML table.
Please...
In the end, all I can ask is for people to use alt text in their images, practice inclusion and empathy, and make things more accessible. We can all benefit in the long run.
Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash
Top comments (3)
Todd do you have any reference to pass to content writers for suggested word counts or levels of detail. As I guess it might be dependant on the personal taste of the vision impaired person though. Like would they be interest in yes its a cat illustration, or colours and shapes to paint the 1000 words visually?
There is no standard word count and the resources I point people to that explains more vary greatly. Some say 150 characters, some say as many as you want without writing a novel, some say 500-100 characters.
Basically it all boils down to describing what the image conveys succinctly and clearly to the person using the technology to assist them. When describing an image, just close your eyes and describe to yourself what you want to know about the image. Words, feeling, tone, what's taking place in the picture, all that factors in (or can).
You have cases like NASA with the very long but descriptive alt text and then you have short and sweet alt text. So it varies greatly. Long text does not truncate in screen readers though.
Simple but good post about alt text! Recommended! 👍