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Lydia Thorne Post 1

10 June 2018, 1:39 AM

OER Photo

Hi everyone,

I uploaded an image that I've used on the discussion forum here before to Flickr using a CC BY SA 2.0 license.

This is a decorative image, so according to the BC Open Accessibility Toolkit I actually would not need to add alt-text in this case. By leaving the alt-text field blank, this signals to the user that there isn't any contextual content worth noting and to move on.

However, if I were to include alt-text it would go something like this...

A wooden boardwalk in a marsh surround by silver birch trees. It is daytime and the skies are the same colour as the surrounding birch trees -- grey.  Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I'm sure it could be better.

  • I tried to keep my description short and to the point
  • I tried to leave out redundant information that would likely be included in the text (i.e. the location of the marsh/Sackville Waterfowl Park or the date that the photo was taken)
  • I also tried to leave out unnecessary information (i.e. 'this is a photo of', 'here we have a photo of')

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Today's lesson was really informative, thank you. I'm ashamed to say that I'm usually pretty bad at remembering to include alt-text for images in my presentations, on my blog, while sharing graphs in reports etc., etc. So will try to be more inclusive while creating materials in the future- from the get go. 

Lydia


Joanne Kehoe Post 2 in reply to 1

10 June 2018, 3:47 PM

You’re not alone - I am striving to always be designing with inclusivity in mind, but alt-text is something that I often found myself fitting in afterward.

However, more recently, when selecting an image for a presentation or any other purpose, I have been trying to jot down a few points prior to, or during my search, which sometimes helps frame its function. For example, I may write in the slide notes, "Need an image to convey X" and then I have the alt-text (sort of) ready to go once I find or create the image.

Lovely boardwalk!

Joanne


Lydia Thorne Post 3 in reply to 2

14 June 2018, 12:01 AM

I think it's one of those things that is easier to do in the present than to remember to go back and add the alt-text later. Alas, I'm pretty bad at adding the alt-text while working away at something.

So, I really like your example- may try it out by jotting down a few ideas in the Slide notes when I add an image or video. Even if I don't get to it right then, the note is still there to jog my memory later. Thanks! 

Lydia