It is important that you provide alternative text for all images included in your guide content.
Alternative text serves several functions:
- Assistive technologies such as screen readers use it to make the content and function of your images accessible to those with visual or certain cognitive disabilities.
- It is displayed in place of images, should image files fail to load in a web browser or when a user has chosen to not view images.
- It provides the ability for search engines and assistive technologies to access image content separate from the page content.
Create alternate text in your LibGuide by going to the text editor and filling out the Alt Tag field on the Insert/edit Image screen.
How to Create Good Alternate Text
- Provide alt-text for all images.
- Consider the context and function of your image.
- Alternative text should:
- Describe the content and function of the image
- Be as accurate and as succinct as possible
- Alternative text should not:
- Include information such as filename or file type
- Use “Image of...” or “Graphic of...”
- Repeat information which is contained in the document itself
- If the image is decorative and does not appear within a link, then the alt-text should be empty.
- If the image is functional (e.g., an image within a link) then the alt-text should describe the function as well as the content.
- If an image includes text that is relevant to the page content, include the text in the alt-text.
- Remember that screen readers always read the alt-text, so image-heavy pages take a long time to read using a screen reader.
