Image Alt Text

Learn how to add an alternative description to images so that users who rely upon a screen reader understand your image's relevance.

The image in Figure 1 visually describes the area in a Word document from which to find the Check Accessibility feature. Add an alternative description – called alt text -- so the image conveys the same information audibly as it does visually.

Alt text for this image might be “Find the Check Accessibility tool from the File tab in the Check for Issues section”.

 

The banner image in Figure 2 is purely decorative – there is no value to a visually impaired person in knowing there is a photo of an eagle, a flute player, and a rainbow at the top of the page. This is a Decorative Image.

 

Add alt text to images in Canvas

Use Canvas’s Rich Content Editor to add an image to a page. Select the Embed Image icon (Figure 3).

 

The Insert / Edit Image dialog box appears (Figure 4).

 

Choose the URL tab in the Image Source section. Add Alt text or select Decorative Image in the Attributes section.

 

Contributed by Cheryl Ryan, Instructional Media Designer at NIC's eLearning Department.