Alt Text and Image Description
Communication often includes images, which is even more common online. A key factor to making communication disability-inclusive is the use of Alt Text and Image Description.
Alt Text
Alt Text describes images in words to assist users who are blind or have low vision to understand the content of the image and its relationship to the surrounding text. In the case of digital and social media images, Alt Text can be accessed by screen reader users, who use screen reader technology to read an image’s Alt Text out loud.
To add Alt Text, you can usually right or double click on an image and follow the subsequent options, or find the option to add Alt Text in settings. Don't forget to put a full stop at the end of Alt Text to signal that it's complete.
Example of Alt Text
Image:
Alt Text with no context:
A mostly empty stadium.
Alt Text on a page about recent turnout for track tryouts:
Stadium with two people running up the steps.
Alt Text on page about renovation projects:
Stadium with cracked concrete pillars.
Image description
If the details of the image are important to providing information, then adding an image description can be more helpful than Alt Text alone. Image descriptions are more detailed and describe all aspects of the image.
For example, an image description of the previous image might read as:
"A granite stone stadium with two tiers of seating. In the centre is a modern sports field covered by closely mown grass and the fresh markings of a soccer field. There are two athletes training, running up and down the bottom tier stadium stairs and a small group of spectators scattered throughout the top tier of the stadium. It is daytime and the sun is shining on the field."
One way Alt Text and image description can differ is that Alt Text is generally embedded in the image and not seen other than when using a screen reader; an image description will normally sit as a caption to the image displayed on the screen.
However, image descriptions can be placed in Alt Text settings, especially on social media, so that the user doesn’t have to listen to the whole caption before getting to the image description at the bottom. This is also an option for websites where it might look messy having the image description below the image.