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Making the web accessible.




There are

million visually impaired in the world.





They use the internet like everyone,

screenshot of the TechCrunch homepage without modifications

but without visuals such as images.

screenshot of the TechCrunch homepage with all images deleted

Fortunately,

there is a textual alternative to visuals called Alt Text.

Alt Text

Alt text (alternative text), also known as "alt attributes", “alt descriptions,” are used within HTML code to describe the appearance and function of an image on a page. Blind users use screen readers to read the content on a website. However, screen readers can’t interpret images and must rely on text to read out loud the information on the page to people who are blind.

Uses

  1. Adding alternative text to photos is first and foremost a principle of web accessibility. Visually impaired users using screen readers will be read an alt attribute to better understand an on-page image.
  2. Alt tags will be displayed in place of an image if an image file cannot be loaded.
  3. Alt tags provide better image context/descriptions to search engine crawlers, helping them to index an image properly.

Source: https://moz.com/learn/seo/alt-text

Unfortunately,

many websites don't add Alt Text to visuals, making their websites less inclusive.

graph titled: percentage of images without alt text. To read more visit the Medium article we wrote!




Visually impaired users should not be an afterthought.

Facebook

... blind people are interested in visual content on social media, but they often feel frustrated and even excluded or isolated because they can't fully participate in conversations centered on photos and videos.
Source: https://code.facebook.com

@_Red_Long

I’m a blind [internet] user. There are a lot of us out there. Increase your ability to reach us and help us interact with your pictures, it’s really simple and makes a huge difference to our internet experiance allowing us to see your images our way.
Source: https://twitter.com/_Red_Long/

@damonrose

... any chance you could put that text in something other than a graphic? Blind users can't read pictures but can read regular text with screenreaders. Can it be added in an alt text field
Source: https://twitter.com/damonrose/





Let's make the internet inclusive!