Some great tips and info to help make for a more accessible web.
So my brilliant friend Tamara shared this info this morning and gave me permission to share it with you. I hope it helps you also write better, more relevant alt text for your images and when not to do it at all. Thanks Tam!
"Sometimes adding descriptive text to an image does the opposite of helping. It creates "noise" that the screen reader has to get through to get to the content that's actually important. It's important to be mindful of when alt text is needed, how to best write the text (including what specific details), and when it's unnecessary and even potentially annoying, interfering with the flow of getting to the useful stuff.
Also, when describing something like a graph, the color coding scheme isn't something people want to keep in their head: please just say what details the graph is conveying.
If there's an image of a person or avatar pointing to the graph as decoration, please don't describe that person/avatar. Unless it has some sort of meaning... Just no.
EXCERPT from link: Decorative images do not need to be described.
Decorative images whose only purpose is to enhance visual appearance do not need a description since they do not convey any useful information to the reader.
Here are three questions to ask yourself when deciding whether to write a description or not:
- Is the image purely aesthetic? This could be borders, backgrounds, or small decorative images. For example, drawings of banana peels and eggshells beside a list of compostable foods would not require alt-text.
- Is the image decorative but still serving a purpose? This could be the use of custom images for context breaks. These images do not require descriptions, but do need special treatment. See: Technical Guidance & Code Samples: Decorative Images.
- Will the image come up in conversations such as in a book club or discussion with friends? This could be cover images, or even author photos. If it prompts discussion, it needs alt-text.
Also there is this super helpful article from Accessible Publishing. Check it out!
https://www.accessiblepublishing.ca/a-guide-to-image-description/