WR 227 Erwert: Images

The websites below provide royalty-free images that you can use in your artifacts. Some photographs and images have specific restrictions (such as not for commercial use) or requests for attribution, so be sure to read the descriptions.

Help Non-Sighted Users Understand Images with Alt-Text

• Alt-text can be read by assistive technologies to describe the content and meaning of an image.

• Alt-text can help *you* decide and understand whether the image you're using has a useful meaning for your students and is conveying what you need it to convey.

Consider the guidelines for writing good alt-text

• Context is king when providing alt text. Ask yourself "What do I want a user to get from this image?" and leave out irrelevant details that don't add to the meaning of the image.
• Keep your text short and sweet! 15 words (or 1-2 sentences, 150 characters) is a good "maximum".
• If you're including a screenshot to describe action and navigation, consider including an in-text narrative to describe what's happening in the screenshot. 
• Need more than 15 words? Check out PCC's guidelines on "complex image accessibility" to help provide additional description. 
• Don't use the name of the file as the Alt text.
• If you have an image of text, the alt text should be the same as the words in the image. 

• This list was originally adapted from the University of Louisville's "Writing Effective Alt Text" (which no longer exists), but the article "Alt Text: What to Write" from Nielsen Norman provides an excellent overview and reflects many of the points made above. 

Alt text resources

• Really thorough explanation of how to write good alt text from WebAIM. 
• How to provide alt-text in Word 
• Alt-text in LibGuides
• How to provide alt-text in Google Docs
• Most succinct and easy-to-understand guidance I've seen on alt-text for complex images.
• How to provide alt-text for flow charts and concept maps (could be used for infographics, too, I think).

Watch a user who navigates with a screen reader experience inaccessible and accessible images: