September 19th 2022 is National Eye Health Week and, in partnership with our brilliant client, Enabled Living Healthcare – who make such a difference to the lives of people in Newham – we’re raising awareness of ALT text on social media. It’s easy, it’s quick and it could massively improve your reach! Here’s the lowdown…
What is ALT text?
ALT text is a description you can write of any images you upload to social media which is then read by the screen reader for visually impaired people. This not only makes social media much better for visually impaired people, it also helps you reach out to this very large, diverse audience in a more engaging way.
So how do you do ALT text?
ALT text is quick and easy to do. You can follow this simple guide to adding image descriptions (and loads of other tips and tricks for making your social media accessible) produced by the Royal National Institute of the Blind and Hootsuite has a box for ALT text too! Most people worry that it’s complicated but it’s really easy – all you have to do is look out for the ‘image description’ and ‘ALT text boxes’ on your social media when posting. So why not give it a try!
What should ALT text say?
You don’t have to write loads of description – in fact it’s better if you keep it brief. According to the RNIB, it can be frustrating for visually impaired people to have to listen to lengthy detailed descriptions of images. But how you describe something is the most important thing. The Big Hack has some brilliant ‘dos and don’ts’ for image description, such as being specific and adding information over aesthetics (e.g., describing a logo as a logo rather than what it is – for example, ‘bright blue bird’ instead of ‘Twitter logo’).
ALT text inspiration!
Still not too sure what to write? Be inspired by this article about NASA’s descriptions of images from space. Their ALT text descriptions allowed visually impaired people to get a real feel for their world-changing images, with one follower tweeting, “As a blind person who has had dreams of doing astronomy since I was 6 … thank you to whoever not only remembered to write alt text for this — but did so in such a beautiful way […] Y’all brought me closer to that dream than ever with your ALT text. I don’t have the words to say thank you.” So not only can image descriptions make social media more accessible and widen your audience, it can also change lives and make dreams come true!
We hope that you’ll join us and Enabled Living Healthcare in adding ALT text/image descriptions to your social media images from now on! We’ve blogged in the past about accessibility when it comes to design, print and web and we’re keen to keep on learning and making everything we do as accessible to everyone. If you need accessible marketing materials or just great images for your social media to try out ALT text on, call us on 0208 590 0922 or email us at info@marcomedia.co.uk