Accessible content: Image descriptions and more

First and foremost, the purpose of alt text is to describe the image. Alt text should cover the key details so that somebody who cannot access the image can understand what it features. Ask yourself: if you were describing an image to somebody over the phone, what would you say?

While it’s important to give key details, it’s equally important to be concise.

Being concise is the key to good alt text if you want to keep the reader interested and avoid them missing out on relevant information.

If you want to describe multiple aspects of an image, think about what is most relevant, and then write your alt text with the most relevant details first.

Think about what is actually relevant when adding your alt text: not every detail in the image will be relevant. Think about the image’s purpose as that will determine the details to include in your alt text. Ask yourself: what do you want people to notice when they look at the image? If you were describing it to somebody over the phone, what would you say?

This applies everywhere, not just to alt text, but if describing people, be sensitive to how they identify, if that is relevant. If a person has asked to be described in a certain way, respect them. For example, if the image is of a blind person using a mobile phone, they may have a specific way they prefer to be identified, for example blind, or totally blind.

They may not want you to mention their impairment at all. Instead, other factors may convey this information, for example the person may be holding a long cane.

How you add alt text to an image depends on the platform you’re using. Each platform has a slightly different process for adding alt text. The label of the alt text box may vary from platform to platform, for example alternative text or image description.

Do your research so that you know exactly how to add alt text on every platform you use.

If you are part of a team, you could also create a resource and make it available to anybody else you work with so that everybody knows the processes for adding alt text.

As mentioned above, being concise is key, therefore don’t overdo it with the detail.

If the alt text contains too much detail, somebody may not even read the entirety of the alt text, therefore potentially missing out on crucial information.

If you are describing an image of people doing an activity, you don’t need to describe every detail of the appearance of each person. Instead, describe the activity they are doing, and other information that is relevant. This could be that they’re wearing particular clothing in order to do that activity, for example a life jacket while kayaking.

While it’s important to not give too much detail, it’s equally important to not give too little detail.

To give some examples, if there is text within the image, state what the text says. If there are various items in the image, state what those items are.

If the description would be too long to be the alt text, think about placing the description elsewhere. For example, if it’s an infographic with lots of text and data, have that information in an alternative format, such as a table or downloadable document.

In the majority of instances, you don’t need to state in your alt text that you are describing an image. Screen readers are able to identify that an element is an image so this will already be known to the person accessing your content.

You only need to state if it is an image if you aren’t putting your alt text in an alt text box and instead including it as part of your post. A good practice practice is to introduce your alt text with a phrase like ‘image shows’ or ‘photo of’, to give some examples.

It may be useful in certain circumstances to indicate the type of an image, for example an image may be a screenshot, infographic, or painting.

The alt text field is the place for image descriptions. It’s not a place for other information like image credits.

We understand the need for crediting images. If you need to do this, place those in the caption box.

In the past, there have been social media trends in which the alt text field has been used for a meme or hidden joke. This is another example of misusing alt text.

Adding alt text may feel daunting if it is something that is new to you, as you may worry about adding too little, or too much, detail. However, don’t let this put you off. It is better to try for it not to be perfect initially, than to not add it all because you aren’t sure if it will be right.

You should avoid using images of text, or flattened copy, where possible.

While you can put the text within the image as alt text, flattened copy cannot be altered to suit those with low vision. You can’t change aspects including font size.

While you can use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) apps to scan text within images, the final result may not be 100% accurate.

If you’re going to need to use flattened copy in an image, make sure that text is also available in true text form i.e. on a website or in an accessible downloadable document.

Colour contrast is important throughout your content, including when inserting images.

Having good colour contrast makes content easier to access for low vision users, but it also helps everybody.

Colour contrast is important to consider, for example when creating your own custom graphics.

Using too many images can disrupt the flow of your content.

While images can add detail to your content, it’s important to consider how necessary each image is.

If an image isn’t adding context to your content, ask yourself: is this image really necessary, or should I add it and mark it as decorative? Decorative images make the content more visually appealing, but don’t add to the content.

When you have created your content (including inserting all your images), make sure that the overall lay-out is accessible.

Sometimes, images can make parts of the text hard to read, and screen readers may skip over some of the text entirely. Consider where you place your images in relation to the text within your content.

One of the most invaluable ways to make images more accessible is to test your content and ask for, and be open to, feedback from readers.

Test your content using different assistive technology software, including paid-for software as you can download free demos. Only by accessing your document using assistive technology will you truly understand its accessibility.

Similarly, ask people with lived experience to test your content, and be open to any feedback you receive, even if it isn’t feedback you directly asked for. For example, if the alt text of your images is too vague and receive feedback about this, be open to suggestions as to how you could improve it.

Obtaining feedback applies to all aspects of accessibility, not just images.

If creating long-form content that can be divided into sections, do this using headings. Make sure the headings are in a proper style so that screen readers and other assistive technology will recognise that they’re headings.

This will help people navigate your content more efficiently, and find particular sections if they don’t want/need to read the entirety of your content.

Clickable elements, including links, buttons and form fields, are elements which you can activate. They can  navigate you elsewhere or input information into a form. Some screen reader users may use the Tab key to navigate through clickable elements, or may use a keystroke to bring up a list of a particular element, for example a list of links or a list of form fields. It’s important to label these elements clearly so that if somebody were navigating in this way, they would know exactly what would happen if they were to activate the clickable element. For example, using labels like ‘click here’ does not give a clear indication of where a person will end up if they activate that link.

Hashtags are a big part of social media, and may be found in other content types too. The most common hashtag presentation is to use all lower case letters, however this isn’t accessible. Screen readers will read them as one long word, and people with low vision may struggle to separate each word individually. In order to make your hashtags accessible, capitalise the first letter of each word. This means that screen readers will properly pronounce each word. It also it makes it easier to decipher the starts and ends of words when reading them.

While emojis can be a fun and engaging way to enhance your content, screen readers give descriptions of each emoji, so using too many will mean that a screen reader would take a very long time to read your post. This could cause your post to lose its meaning and a reader would become disinterested.

If you want to use emojis, we recommend one or two per post.

It can be very tempting to use fancy fonts as a way to draw attention to your content. However, these fonts can be very difficult to read, and some screen readers aren’t able to interpret these fonts.

If you aren’t sure, use a screen reader to read your text, and ensure it’s reading each word clearly.