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How to Add Alternative Text to Images
How to Add Alternative Text to Images

Add alt text to your images to improve accessibility

Anthony Karcz avatar
Written by Anthony Karcz
Updated over a week ago

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Improve accessibility for learners with screen readers by adding alternative text to images. Keep reading to see how easy it is!

After adding an image to your course, click the Edit link for the image and choose Edit alt tag from the menu that appears.

Then enter descriptive text in the window that appears and click OK. See below for tips on writing good alternative text (alt text). Images are marked decorative by default to hide them from screen readers. Leave the field blank or add two double quotes ("") to the alt tag text to make it null, and screen readers will skip it (don't worry about cover photos, we made it so that screen readers ignore them).

When you add alt text to an image, Rise displays an ALT  tag in the corner of the image (in the editor, not the published course) as a visual indicator that alt text exists. Click the ALT  tag to edit your alt text.

Writing Good Alt Text

To write good alt text, you’ll want to:

  • Convey the same content and information presented by the image.

  • Be concise without skimping on relevant information.

  • Convey only information not already captured in other on-screen text.

  • Avoid the phrases “image of” or “graphic of” and just provide the information the learner needs.

  • Avoid abbreviations and excessive punctuation. Don’t use punctuation such as ***, which screen readers will annoyingly read as “asterisk, asterisk, asterisk.”

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