Looking to expand your knowledge of digital accessibility and learn quick strategies that you can easily integrate into your workflow? CATL’s blog post series on digital accessibility catalogues some helpful tips and tricks we’ve shared in our Teach Tuesday e-newsletter!
In this tip, we’ll discuss why adding alt text is important for making your images and charts more accessible, and how to write effective alt text.
Alternative (alt) text is a short textual description of an image. The primary function of alt text is that it helps users who rely on screen readers understand the purpose of an image. The alt text for an image will be displayed if there are issues loading the image in an email client or browser. For websites, alt text is also used to improve the relevance of search engine results.
Guidelines for Writing Alt Text
- Alt text should be descriptive, but concise. Use 150 characters or less to describe the image.
- Avoid including phrases like “image of” or “photo of,” which can be redundant since a screen reader will announce a graphic or image.
- If an image is purely decorative and does not convey any meaning, mark the image as decorative instead of adding alt text. This tells a screen reader to skip over the image when reading the page.
- Alt text for charts and graphs should note the type of visualization, the type of data being depicted, and a brief description of the information conveyed. For more complex visualizations, consider including the raw data in an accompanying textual format, such as an accessible spreadsheet or data table.
- Microsoft has an excellent guide on how to write alt text that also includes instructions for how to add or edit alt text in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. After you’ve had a chance to review these recommendations from Microsoft, practice adding alt text to an image in Canvas too.
- To learn more about these concepts and see examples, visit the WebAIM guide on alt text.
Looking for More Tips?
Explore even more quick tips in our Digital Accessibility Tips post, where you’ll find a growing list of strategies to help make your course materials more accessible.
Further Accessibility Training
Ready to dive deeper into digital accessibility? Essentials of Accessibility for Faculty and Staff is a free, self-paced, online course that will teach you the basics of digital accessibility and accessibility best practices for several key applications that UW-Green Bay employees may use in their daily work. We encourage you to self-enroll in the course to learn practical approaches for remediating digital accessibility issues in a variety of use cases and applications.
Connect with CATL
You are not alone in your accessibility journey! While CATL cannot advise on the legal specifications of Title II, instructors are always welcome to schedule a consultation with us or stop by our office (CL 405) to discuss the accessibility of your teaching materials.