Alternative Text for ADA Compliance

Providing content in ways all Florida residents can consume is important. It is also the law. Over 28% of people in Florida have some sort of disability^[1] that may prevent them from being able to read websites and electronic documents. It is our responsibility to provide our content in formats these individuals can easily access. One aspect of ADA compliance is providing Alternative Text (Alt-Text) for images and illustrations.

What is Alt-Text?

Alt-Text is copy that describes images or illustrations. These descriptions enable people with vision impairments to know what sighted people can see in the document.

Tips for Writing Alt-Text

Review the image to get an understanding of it and how it relates to the content in the document.
All images and illustrations that provide information need to have Alt-Text.
Visuals that are decorative can be excluded.
Be concise.
Describe the main elements of the image in as few words as possible.
Exclude details that are not relevant to the reader’s understanding of the image.

Examples

Photo Example	Alt-Text
	A black cow watching a woman fill a cattle feed trough.
	A place setting with a meal of sauced chicken, green beans, and ravioli.
	Inchworm pest on industrial hemp plant.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/impacts/florida.html

Featured image by tippapatt – stock.adobe.com