OU Campus & Alt Text
Learn how to add alt text to your images using different callout and content snippets in OU Campus.
Why Do We Need Alt Text?
Images usually communicate important visual information. If someone can't see an image for any reason, alt text gives them a way to access that information.
Alt text is crucial for people with vision-related disabilities.
Without it, your audience who have disabilities like low vision or blindness have no way of obtaining the information communicated by your visuals.
Anyone might be in a situation where they can't see images.
If someone's internet connection is slow or their computer settings disable images from loading, alt text can help them access image information if it's written correctly.
Alt text must be considered for all images.
Almost every image you publish in a digital context will require alt text. Even decorative images that add no additional visual information must be marked so that a screen reader will skip them.
Examples of Images That Need Alt Text
This is not an exhaustive list, but these are common types of images you'll need to describe with alt text to describe.
- Website Visuals
- Social Media Posts
- Infographics
- Logos
- Headshots
How to Write Alt Text
Writing effective alt text can seem difficult at first, but if you follow these steps to analyze your images and understand what they're communicating, it will become easier.
Close-up images of individuals present their own accessibility concerns, but it's easy to write alt text for headshots if you keep some basics in mind.
In addition to any text, you'll want to include the context and layout of your image. Here are some helpful tips for describing graphics.
Logos and marks may seem self-explanatory, but they still communicate information and require alt text. Here are some guidelines for describing logos as well as standard alt text for UofSC logos and marks.
When communicating complex information, it's common to display what you're trying to convey in terms of a chart, diagram or other visual representation. Those with certain types of disabilities will not be able to interact with this information in the format of a visual, but you can make it accessible to them in a couple of different ways.
In the rare instance where an image adds absolutely no additional information to the screen's content, you can mark it as "decorative" and skip writing alt text.
All images that also serve as a link must have alt text, even if they would otherwise be considered decorative.
Finding Images with Pre-Written Alt Text
Some royalty-free stock photo sites provide pre-written alt text. You will still need to check that the alt text is accurate and descriptive before using it.
Unsplash in particular does a good job providing ready-to-go alt text for images.
Adding Alt Text in Specific Platforms
The way you'll add alt text to your images will depend on the tool or platform you're using to publish digital content.
PDFs & Alt Text
If you're creating a PDF or exporting an existing document to PDF, you can follow these steps from Adobe to check and add alt text for images.
Word, PowerPoint & Microsoft Documents Alt Text
It's often the best idea to handle alt text in the original document. Word provides help for adding alt text and marking images as decorative in all of their products.
Google Docs & Apps
Google offers easy steps for adding alt text to images within their apps.
Adobe InDesign & Alt Text
Adobe offers a good guide to marking images as decorative (and adding alternative text where necessary) in InDesign and their other products.
Social Media & Alt Text
Alt text is important for social media images too! Each platform has its own directions for adding alt text to images.