Tag: Images

Anytime we use an image on the website, we need to include a description using alternate text. Assistive devices use the alternate text to provide information about that image to the people who need it.

Key Takeaways

• Every image needs to have alt text
• The alt text needs to describe the purpose of the image
• If the image is used to convey information (for example, a picture of text), then that information needs to be written out in the alt text or below the image on the page or post itself.
• Adding alt text at the moment the image is added to the Media Library ensures that alt text will be used with that image no matter when or where it is used.

Understanding Images and Alt Text

The alt text for images is a very brief explanation of what the purpose of an image is. When an assistive device comes across an image, it will use what’s written in the alt text area to describe the image to the user.

There is no need to use either ‘image of’ or ‘photo of’ in the alt text, as the majority of assistive devices will announce that it’s an image or photo already.

Simple Images

Alt text for an image without text is the easiest; you simply describe the image in as few words as possible.

For an image of a bridge spanning across a large waterfall in a tropical forest, you have a few options.

The important question is, “What is the purpose of this image?” If the purpose is the bridge, the alt text could just be “bridge.”

If the purpose is both the waterfall and the bridge, you could use “bridge over waterfall.”

However, maybe the purpose of the image is the size of the waterfall, or the structure of the bridge, in which case your alt text may be “arched bridge over 500 foot waterfall.”

In the end, the point is to decide why you’re using that image and then to describe the image accordingly. Most assistive device users are grateful for alt text descriptions that are as short as possible.

Images with Text

Whenever an image has text on it, you will need to decide if the text is meaningful to the purpose of the image.

As an example, let’s use the image of a bike next to a long road and a road sign that has “Follow that dream” printed on it.

If the purpose of the image is just to show the bike you could simply write “bike” as the alt text.

If the color of the bike is important to the image’s purpsose, you might write “white bike” in the alt text field.

Or if the purpose is the sign and the bike and road don’t matter you would just write “Follow that dream” as the alt text, or “Follow that dream, road sign.”

Or maybe the purpose in using this image, is everything all together: “White bike next to long road and a ‘Follow that dream’ roadsign.’

Whatever the case keep in sign the same image used in different areas may serve different purposes, and therefore might have different alt texts on each use.

The main question to ask when using an image with text is simply “What is the purpose of this image?” and then to describe it as briefly as possible

Images of Flyers and Posters

Best practice for posters and flyers is to write the text from the flyer and poster directly onto your website so that it can be accessed the same as any other text, and then use a brief description of the poster or flyer in the alt text, along with where they can find the information: “Doughnut Day Flyer. Information in post content.”

Second best practice, if for some reason you’re unable to write the text on the website itself, is to put all—yes all—important information from the poster or flyer into the alt text field.

Complex Images

Examples of complex images are graphs, charts, or pictures of tables and data. In these cases it’s best to write out a description of the data, much like you would for flyers and posters. You can have that data on the same page, or add a supporting link near the image that takes the user to a separate page with a long description.

The long description defines the fields, columns, rows, data sets, etc. on the image and also provides the needed interpretation.

Why This Matters to ADA Compliance

Images with text are all-to-often used to convey important information; however, when text is itself an image, assistive devices cannot read that text.

1. This effectively keeps any body with visual impairments from being able to access that information.
2. It also prevents that information from being able to be translated into other languages.
3. When the content is magnified or reduced, the text on an image does not scale appropriately, and the clarity is compromised.

Whenever possible, avoid using images with text to convey meaning.

How to Add Alt Text to Images

There are multiple ways to add alt text to images, and the way that’s described first is the most efficient. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll be using ‘posts’ as an example even though the process is the same, no matter if it’s a page or a post.

In the body of your post, add an image block by click the block ‘plus’ button or by placing your cursor in the ‘Type / …’ area. (Would type ‘/image’ to add the image block.)

If you don’t immediately see the image block, you can do a search until you do. Select the ‘Image’ block.

Once the image block is in your post body, click the ‘Select Image’ button and choose ‘Media Library.’

Important Note: If you use the ‘Upload’ button, it won’t give you the opportunity to add an Alt Tag in prior to inserting the image onto your page. For this reason, I suggest always using the ‘Select Image’ option, even when uploading a new image.

Once the Media Library screen loads, you can either select an image that’s already in your media library or upload a new one. Either way, after the image is selected (after uploading or simply using one in the Media Library) the image’s details will appear to the right of the image you selected.

Notice that the ‘Alt Text’ field is the first fillable area for an image. This is where you would describe the image for assistive devices.

Important Note: Typing in the alt text at this time will ensure that the same alt text will be used from this point forward each time this image is inserted onto your website. You can still change the alt text on a per-use basis if needed, but by default, this will be the text used each time. If this image was already inserted in a previous post before filling out the Alt Text area, then the website will not go back and retroactively insert the alt text. You will need to either reinsert the image on those pages, or fill in the alt text on a per-use basis.

In the example screenshot given, the image being used is a bike next to a street sign. In my opinion, the text on the street sign is the most important part and when combined with a bike, creates the purpose of the image, so for the alt text, I will write, “Bike next to a ‘Follow that dream’ Street Sign.’

I would then choose ‘Select’ to insert the image into my post.

You can then select that image on your post and the block settings will display (if they don’t display, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the post edit screen).

In the image block settings, there is an individual field for the Alt Text. It is automatically filled out using the alt text you entered from within the Media Library when you selected the image in the first place. Changing the alt text in this field, only changes it for this instance of the image.

There are also other image-editing options that you can work with to change the image size and alignment in relation to the text around it.

A few final notes on adding alt text to images.

1. Keep in mind alt text added while in the Media Library will be used whenever that image is inserted. Alt text added to an individual image block’s settings (an image instance), will only be used for that one particular usage. (You could have the same image on the page multiple times, each time with a different alt text.)
2. Using the ‘Select Image’ button instead of the ‘Upload’ button on an image block will let you add in alt text for the image before adding it into your page. This will save you time in the long run.
3. Alt text describes the purpose of the image. The point is to make sure anyone with a visual impairment has access to the same information that an image provides.

Watch the Video(s)

Video tutorials coming soon…