Alt Text Workshop
... hello, welcome [short introduction here to lay the ground with our intentions for this workshop] ...
What is alt-text?
alternative (alt) text is a textual substitute for non-text content in web pages [1].
alternative text is the first sucess criteria of the standard called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), stated by the World Wide Web Consortium: (WCAG 2.0 - WCAG 3.0 published a draft 09/2025)
1.1.1 Non-text Content: All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose, except for the situations listed below [2].
The exceptional situations listed below are: Controls/ Input, Time-Based Media, Test, Sensory, CAPTCHA, Decoration/Formatting/Invisible
alt text is commonly written/ found in the alt attribute of an html img tag.
<img src="file.jpg" alt=" ">
Why alt-text?
https://wetdry.world/@ipg/113449765700357189 alt-text does not equal digital accessibility but can be a step towards it. (other steps towards accessibility can be: color contrasts, text sizes, clarity of a page navigation, using semantic html...)
alt-text on platforms
other ways of alt-texting
to what extend can (or should) text represent visual media? what if we use alt-text not as a forced upon means of content translation or extra labor but as a method to convey situated perspective, emotion, detail?
what else can we write alt-text about?
Alt Text Selfies
what could alt-text for a websites be like?
- Websites that write about their own process of making and accessibility alt-text as poetry has a section about itself, written by the ones who developed the site, together.net is a consent driven community software that has a whole page dedicated to its own accessibility
- alt text for ascii art
what other forms can this writing have?
Alt Text as Poetry
alt text as a form of preservation / archiving [3]
fanfiction
Exercise
Resources
- alt-text viewer Browser Extensions Firefox / Chrome
- What do you see? talk by Lola Odelola
- Web accessibility guides
- from the W3C WAI
- accessibility developer guide
- wave is a browser based tool to check your websites accessibility
References
- ↑ https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/
- ↑ W3C "Non-text Content: Understanding SC 1.1.1" https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/text-equiv-all.html
- ↑ https://bryn.codes/writing/the-joy-in-alt-text/