Welcome to this tutorial on using alt text for accessibility. Our goal here is to help you understand what alt text is, why it's important, and how to use it effectively to make your web content more accessible.
By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to:
- Understand what alt text is and its role in web accessibility
- Create effective and meaningful alt text for images
- Implement alt text into your HTML code
Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge of HTML is beneficial.
Alt text, or alternative text, is a short description that you can add to an image tag in HTML. This text will be displayed if the image can't be loaded, and it's also used by screen readers to describe the image to visually impaired users.
When creating alt text, consider the context and function of the image. The alt text should convey the content and the purpose of the image. If the image is purely decorative, it is best practice to leave the alt text attribute empty (alt="").
The alt attribute is included inside the image tag in HTML. Here's a basic example:
<img src="image.jpg" alt="description of image">
In this case, "description of image" would be replaced with your alt text.
Example 1:
<img src="puppy.jpg" alt="Puppy playing in a park">
Here, the alt text tells us that the image displays a puppy playing in a park. If the image doesn't load or if a screen reader is being used, this description will be used instead.
Example 2:
<img src="logo.jpg" alt="">
In this example, the image is likely a decorative logo. The alt text is left empty, indicating to screen readers that they can skip over this image.
In this tutorial, we covered the importance of alt text for web accessibility, how to create meaningful alt text, and how to add alt text to an image using HTML. Next, you might want to learn about other aspects of web accessibility, such as accessible navigation or use of color.
Additional resources:
- Web Accessibility Initiative
- Google's Introduction to Web Accessibility
Create an HTML page with three images. Add appropriate alt text to each image.
Find a website with poor use of alt text. Identify the issues and suggest improvements.
Solutions:
The solution will depend on the images you chose. Here's an example:
html
<img src="mountains.jpg" alt="Snowy mountain range under clear blue sky">
<img src="cat.jpg" alt="Orange tabby cat sleeping">
<img src="logo.jpg" alt="">
In this example, the first two images have descriptive alt text, while the logo has an empty alt attribute.
The solution will depend on the website you chose. Look for images without alt text, or with unhelpful or irrelevant descriptions.
By understanding and implementing good practices for alt text and other accessibility features, you'll help make the web a more inclusive place. Happy coding!