Alright, friends. Please give me some helpful tips to better understand ALT text so that I can do a better job than I’ve been doing (my apologies). I know the general idea but get mixed messages.
If I post an image that’s a tweet or a text, what should I be using as alt text and what else?
If I post an image that’s a tweet or a text, what should I be using as alt text and what else?
Comments
In short, be concise and focus on necessary information. I also suggest trying the screen reader on your device to get an idea of how alt text is presented.
https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools/img-alt-text-generator
Ahrefs has tools and info for SEO, which alt text helps with on websites.
Appreciate you asking for help!
Also, as someone who does sometimes use a screen reader, even “pic of me” is better than nothing, because it defaults to just saying “image.”
People who are actually visually impaired may be able to refine that, but this is the purpose of alt text for screen readers.
Leave in the scream capture context.
And then put the text in the capture. Just copy paste it if you’re screen capping a tweet, a description like this, etc.
https://www.section508.gov/
https://bsky.app/profile/numb.comfortab.ly/post/3lbcgu54dc22l
For a text image from another site, you can often copy the text on that site, and paste the copied text into Alt text.
article, meme, cartoon or what have you first.
Then I describe what is in the image.
Then I describe the context or story.
It takes time, but I think it helps the algorithm.
And it is good editorial practice. ✌️
You can go into your Bluesky settings to remind you to add alt text.
Settings -> Accessibility -> Require alt text before posting