Accessible Facebook Posts

Creating accessible Facebook posts ensures that all users—including those who are blind, low-vision, Deaf, or hard of hearing—can fully engage with your content.

General Guidelines

• If an image is important enough to post, it’s important enough to include meaningful alt text.
  Every image that conveys information should have a text-based description that communicates what’s in the image and why it matters.

• For videos, use captions and (when needed) audio description.
  Captions communicate speech and key sounds for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Audio description communicates visual information for people who are Blind or have low vision when that information isn’t already in the audio.

• Write primary post text that describes and complements your media.
  Don’t rely on captions or tags alone — make your post’s language work with the image/video so that context doesn’t depend solely on sight.

• Limit hashtags and tags in the main content.
  Place hashtags and mentions at the end of your post to reduce noise for screen reader users.

Recommendations for Photo-based Posts

• Avoid posting images with embedded text whenever possible.
  Text in images can’t be read by screen readers. If you must use text in an image, include that text clearly in your post text.

• Add or edit alternative text (alt text) for every image.
  After uploading your photo in Facebook:

  • Click Edit on the photo.

  • In the photo details, select Alternative text.

  • Write descriptive text — as if explaining the image over the phone to someone who cannot see it.

    • Focus on key visual information and context that adds meaning to your post, not generic labels like “Image may contain…”

  • Click "Done", and once you have your post-content typed out, click the "Post" button.

• Avoid redundant captions.
  Alt text should add meaningful description beyond what your caption already says.

• If you need help writing alt text:
  Tools like the ASU EdPlus Image Accessibility Creator can generate suggestions — but always check that suggestions are accurate and relevant to your intent.

Recommendations for Posts of Videos

• Choose videos that can be made accessible.
  • Videos that rely entirely on visual or audio cues without explanation can be inaccessible. For example:
    • Example: A 54 second video of North Idaho College Wrestlers playing mushroom ball with the only audio being "Brain Stew" by Green Day.  A blind/low-vision person would not be able to fully understand what is going on with this post without someone attempting to explain the video.
    • Example: A scenic video with the text "North Idaho College Coeur d'Alene, ID February 2026" encoded onto the video, but not represented in the audio.  
• Caption all speech and meaningful sounds.
  • Provide accurate captions for spoken words and important non-speech audio cues (e.g., applause, laughter, alerts).
  • To learn more about what makes for great video captions, checkout the DCMP Captioning Key (URL: https://dcmp.org/learn/captioningkey)
• Include audio description when necessary.
  If visual content isn’t represented in the audio track, add an audio description track — or link to a version of the video that includes audio description — and note that in your post tex.
  • To learn more about what makes for great Audio Description, checkout
    • DCMP Audio Description Key (URL: https://dcmp.org/learn/descriptionkey) and/or
    • Roy Samuelson's Keynote at Accessibility Camp CdA 2025: Beyond Compliance - Crafting Audio Description That Audiences Feel (URL: https://nic.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=3d6e629c-cc67-49b6-b405-b33e0140e097)

Why These Practices Matter

Accessible posts make your content inclusive to people who use screen readers, are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, are Blind/Low Vision, or have other cognitive and sensory needs. They also improve comprehension for everyone and expand your audience.