Alt-Text
HTML is the acronym for Hypertext Mark-up Language and is utilised by web
designers to build websites. Alt-Text is an HTML attribute used to describe
the appearance and function of an image on a webpage. Adding alternative
text to photos is first and foremost a principle of web accessibility.
Vision-impaired users using screen readers will be read an alt attribute to
understand an on-page image better. Websites designed with accessibility and
inclusion in mind will have an Alt-Text description for every image. Sadly,
this is often not the case for many websites.
Facebook Image AI
In the last few years, Facebook introduced an AI algorithm, which scans
uploaded pictures and attempts to describe the contents of the image. While
this AI algorithm works quite well, it can often give rudimentary
descriptions or descriptions too vague to be useful.
Manual Alt-Text Editors for Facebook and Instagram.
Very recently, both Facebook and Instagram have added the option to add your
own Alt-Text to images as you upload them. These new features allow social
media users to be more conscious by giving them the ability to add
"meaningful" descriptions of images they upload to these platforms thus
creating an accessible image to share with family and friends with visual
impairments.
Facebook
Currently, Facebook only offers the Alt-text editor in the full website
version. After selecting an image to upload and before publishing the photo
to Facebook;
1. Navigate to an edit option for the photo.
2. Navigate to the Alt-Text option
3. Navigate to the "Override generated Alt-Text button". From there we
can fill out a text field describing the image and select the save button.
4. You will be brought back to the normal upload screen from where you
can select the share button.
Instructions that are more detailed can't be given at this time, as the
feature could be different from one person's set-up to another.
We hope to see this feature added to the mobile versions of the Facebook app
in the future.
Instagram
Instagram currently offer their text editor in their mobile app. After the
images are selected and you choose a filter before publishing there is an
advanced setting feature that can be accessed. In these advanced settings,
there is a "Write Alt-Text" section, which allows us to describe the image
before posting to an Instagram account
Conclusion
We would hope going forward people are more mindful when sharing images to
these social media platforms and consider adding a description that allows
people with vision impairments access to images that you share.
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