Week 2: Alt Text for Images (General)
Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:19 am
Thank you all for your feedback in the first week about alt text. Now we will be looking more in depth at four examples (A-D), to help ensure we are creating the best possible alt text for our NNELS books!
Questions about alt text for general images:
Question 1. In general, what advice do you have for providing alt text for images? What makes for really good alt text and vice versa?
Question 2. What do you think about clothing descriptions? Are they important? What about the colour of someone’s eyes, hair, or skin?
Question 3. Do you suggest providing an approximate age for the people in the image (as in Image B)?
Question 4. Do you have any tips for describing portrait photographs such as Image D. They are often found in “About the Author” sections and we want to make sure we are getting them just right!
Question 5. Do you prefer alt text with more description or less than the images below? Does it depend on the context?
Question 6. Do you have any other feedback?
Image A alt text: A colour photograph of an area that has been dessimated by fire. The author stands in the centre of piles of ash and rubble, with only the frames of golf carts and vehicles remaining. He is wearing his firefighting uniform, including a red helmet. There are several tall leafless trees that have been burnt that remain standing in the background.
Image B alt text: A colour photograph of Gordie and Mark (at about 6 years old) standing beside a large fish with silver scales. The fish is just slightly shorter than Gordie, and much bigger than Mark. Gordie is wearing a blue polo shirt and red and black plaid shorts, Mark is wearing a white shirt and short set, with the shirt unbuttoned.
Image C alt text: A black and white line drawing of Mike with a thought bubble over his head containing two tickets with checkmarks on them, a stack of school books, and a graded paper with an A on it. Mike is a freckled boy with dark eyes.
Image D alt text: A black and white portrait photograph, of the author, Michelle Mulder. She has short hair, is standing in a grassy field, and is wearing dangling earrings and a turtleneck.
Questions about alt text for general images:
Question 1. In general, what advice do you have for providing alt text for images? What makes for really good alt text and vice versa?
Question 2. What do you think about clothing descriptions? Are they important? What about the colour of someone’s eyes, hair, or skin?
Question 3. Do you suggest providing an approximate age for the people in the image (as in Image B)?
Question 4. Do you have any tips for describing portrait photographs such as Image D. They are often found in “About the Author” sections and we want to make sure we are getting them just right!
Question 5. Do you prefer alt text with more description or less than the images below? Does it depend on the context?
Question 6. Do you have any other feedback?
Image A alt text: A colour photograph of an area that has been dessimated by fire. The author stands in the centre of piles of ash and rubble, with only the frames of golf carts and vehicles remaining. He is wearing his firefighting uniform, including a red helmet. There are several tall leafless trees that have been burnt that remain standing in the background.
Image B alt text: A colour photograph of Gordie and Mark (at about 6 years old) standing beside a large fish with silver scales. The fish is just slightly shorter than Gordie, and much bigger than Mark. Gordie is wearing a blue polo shirt and red and black plaid shorts, Mark is wearing a white shirt and short set, with the shirt unbuttoned.
Image C alt text: A black and white line drawing of Mike with a thought bubble over his head containing two tickets with checkmarks on them, a stack of school books, and a graded paper with an A on it. Mike is a freckled boy with dark eyes.
Image D alt text: A black and white portrait photograph, of the author, Michelle Mulder. She has short hair, is standing in a grassy field, and is wearing dangling earrings and a turtleneck.