For example, the dog with a bow on its head is smiling at the camera or Spongebob dressed as a caveman is looking around wildly. To aide in writing alt text, Veronica recommends imagining a friend just asked you what is in the image and you give them a brief reply. Remembering the 1-2 sentence limit recommended by web accessibility experts, explain what the subject pictured is doing. a dog with a bow on its head, or Spongebob in a caveman outfit). a dog, or Spongebob), as well as any changes in appearance (i.e. Give a brief description of what’s being shown (i.e. Describe what is picturedĪs Veronica puts it, a screen reader user won’t know what you don’t tell them. Before anything else, the most important rule is to always write out any text that appears in the image. One of the first viral meme formats included top and bottom text to convey the joke, which assistive technologies aren’t able to read. One should keep the basics in mind when writing alt text, but Veronica outlines even more specific guidelines for writing useful descriptions on memes. In her blog post on How to Write Alt Text for Memes, Veronica discusses the basics of alt text & assistive technology, creates a style guide for alt text descriptions on memes, and provides further guidance on how to write alt text for specific types of memes. As a person with low vision herself, she realized there was a lack of resources on writing alt text for memes and set about remedying the problem herself. Veronica Lewis is the author of the blog Veronica with Four Eyes, which publishes resources for visual impairment and assistive technologies. Differentiate alt text descriptions from adjacent captions or body text Avoid phrases like “image of…” Users generally understand it’s an image, but the content of the image is what’s most important.Limit description lengths to 1-2 sentences Describe both the content and function of the image WebAIM says alternative attributes should typically: Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) is a nonprofit organization that creates & shares web accessibility resources, including guidance on how to write effective alt text. Across the board, however, there are a few rules of thumb to write useful & descriptive alt text: īut… how do you know what to write? What’s included in alt text descriptions depends largely on what the content is portraying, and can be adapted to anything from infographics to memes. This means your content can be better recommended to viewers, gain more exposure, and ultimately lead to increased site traffic. Alt text allows bots to ‘read’ and better understand the content, similar to how they read closed captions on video content. Including alternative text with images can also positively impact a brand’s ranking on search engine results pages. Additionally, alt text will display by default (when available) if an image file isn’t loaded properly. Keep reading to learn more about the basics of alternative text, and how you can use it to make even your memes accessible □ What is alternative text, anyway?Īlt text provides a written description of non-textual media content, and is most typically used by assistive technologies to make content accessible to those with visual or cognitive impairments. While most people may think of alternative text describing photos or social media graphics, one modern application of this accessibility tool is memes – funny images online that are quickly spread by a lot of users. It’s great the functionality is expanding in popularity, however, it’s also important that it’s being used properly. When Instagram launched the feature in 2018, alt text could either be automatically generated or written manually in an effort to increase the number of images online with associated alt text. In recent years, alternative text (or “alt text”) has become a standard web accessibility practice for most social media platforms.
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