

Strickland said the type of bad experience to avoid is uploading an image of a chart and only writing the title in the alt text. They’re especially useful for charts and graphs because they can get into the nitty-gritty details of complex visuals. Long descriptions are an alternate way to include text descriptions for screen readers. “If you have an image that’s more complex, then the recommendation has been to use a long description,” Strickland said. When that’s not possible, use a different type of descriptive text. Jennifer Strickland, an accessibility engineer at nonprofit research organization MITRE, said she tries to keep alt texts within 150 characters. Memes aside, generally, when it comes to alt text, keep it concise yet accurate. More on Accessibility Accessible UI Basics for Users With Visual Impairments Instead, developers have to think about accessibility along with the creation of digital tools and content. As technology progresses, alt texts are no longer just regulated to photos on static websites. Even when developers are not writing alt texts directly, their work affects how easy it is for others to write and maintain alt texts.
#Text on image software software
Software developers should be aware of these issues too. “Personally, I would rather have some rules broken than to have people completely shy away from trying to attempt to make content accessible.” “In this case, being wordy wins over being concise,” Preston-Watson said in the podcast.

She said a better way to ensure users aren’t excluded from participating in memes is to be more thorough on alt text descriptions - even if that’s not the standard way to approach alt texts. Make accessibility part of each step in the software development process. Work with testers and developers who have disabilities.
#Text on image software code
Whenever possible, code website designs instead of using images. Developers should create systems that help content creators write alt texts correctly.
