What Should E-Learning Designers Know About Alt Text? #429

David Anderson
By David Anderson

What Should Every E-Learning Designer Know About Alt Text? #429

Using Alt Text in E-Learning #429: Challenge | Recap

On the surface, writing alt text seems simple enough: Add text to on-screen images to verbally describe what's depicted in an image. Easy enough, right? 

But the more you learn about accessibility guidelines, the more you recognize potential challenges with "getting it right." For example, some terms and concepts that often confuse designers include:

  • Functional vs. decorative images
  • "Image of" or "Picture of"
  • Captions vs. alt text
  • Complex images
  • Changing context of visuals
  • Limited space

If you're like most course designers, you're on your own accessibility journey and learning incrementally. One of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others. This holds true whether you have years of experience or you’re just getting started. Tom calls that a 5-minute expert, and that’s what this week’s challenge is all about.

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to share an instructional example to help course designers learn more about alt text.

Your example can be static or interactive. You can also consider combining this week’s challenge with an earlier challenge topic. I’ll update both recap posts with your entries this week. 

Here are some topics that would work for this week’s challenge:

Upcoming Webinar

Want to learn more about alt text? Check out the webinar Ginger is hosting next week on how to write effective alt text for e-learning. I’ll see if I can also nudge Ginger to reference your examples and include them in her session's resources.

Free Webinar: How To Write Alt Text for E-Learning

How To Write Alt Text for E-Learning

More Resources

Share Your E-Learning Work

  • Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post.
  • Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example.
  • Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts so your great work gets even more exposure.
  • Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness.

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you share your tips on alt text, check out the creative ways course designers use cinemagraphs and looping videos in e-learning:

30+ Ways to Use Cinemagraphs and Video Backgrounds in E-Learning #428

Cinemagraph & Looping Video Examples RECAP #428: Challenge | Recap

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.

Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article. 

Got an idea for a challenge? Are you interested in doing a webinar showcasing how you made one or more challenge demos? Or do you have some comments for your humble challenge host? Use this anonymous form to share your feedback:  https://bit.ly/ElearningChallengeForm.

Related Content

Using Interactive Calculators in E-Learning #430

David Anderson
David Anderson

10 Interactive Examples of Alt Text in E-Learning #429

David Anderson
David Anderson
Director, Customer Training

Using the Jump-to-Time Trigger in Storyline 360 #318

David Anderson
David Anderson
46 Comments
Jodi M. Sansone
8 months ago08/29/23 at 8:35 pm (UTC)
Alt Test Quiz--What Alt Text Would You Use? Demo: https://jodisdemos.s3.amazonaws.com/429+Alt+Text/story.html I confess I am lazy on writing alt text (and I had to miss Ginger's webinar today, but I'll watch it tomorrow). So I decided to challenge myself and write alt text that did a good job of describing a visual and adding context so the visual is more than "decorative". Let me know if you agree/disagree with my quiz answers. Thinking through the alt text examples took me longer than actually developing the slides for this demo.
Thierry EMMANUEL
8 months ago08/31/23 at 12:46 pm (UTC)
Bravo for this demo, Jodi. You've inspired me to do my own. I followed the link to WCAG, very interesting. But, in my opinion, the image + alt text example is curiously not very relevant. According to the site, the best alt text should be: "A distraught man hugs his daughter in front of the crumbling walls and scattered debris of their home destroyed by a tornado". I didn't SEE it was a father and daughter, I can't SEE it. I didn't see that it was after a tornado, I didn't see that it was a tornado, I can't see it (it could have been an earthquake, a bombing, destruction for eviction, etc). So, in this example, there's a lot more information (contextual and especially emotional) in the alt text than in the image. Is it a good alt text? Does anyone have an opinion?
Kate O'Rourke
8 months ago09/01/23 at 9:15 pm (UTC)
Hi Jodi! This is so well done. I think it's a great way to help people practice their skills in ALT text. It's challenging, yet well scaffolded. I was thrown off by the colleagues in safety goggles talking "intensely" - that word seemed subjective - as well as the "demoralized" businessman with "demanding" colleagues. When writing ALT text myself, I find it's a great challenge to balance descriptive detail with objective language!
Jonathan Hill
8 months ago08/30/23 at 11:57 am (UTC)
Hello! In a recent discussion with my team on this topic, we thought it was sad how Alt Text isn't widely used on social media, and how this could be improved. But writing descriptive Alt Text for memes is tricky! Does over-explaining a meme kill the joke? Why should those who rely on Alt Text be left out? MEME-INGFUL INTERACTIONS https://bit.ly/elhc429
Jonathan Hill
8 months ago08/30/23 at 3:14 pm (UTC)
Thanks Jodi. It's a tricky one, for sure. I'm not certain describing a meme with a robotic-sounding screen reader can ever have the same immediacy and impact as a purely visual meme. I listen to a lot of radio comedy, so I firmly believe humour can be achieved without visuals, though. There have been attempts to subvert the Alt Text format for humour, using it to deliver a punchline. But this also relies on the visual setting up the joke. Understandably, this has drawn criticism for accessibility advocates. https://www.wsj.com/articles/misuse-of-twitters-alt-text-feature-draws-criticism-from-accessibility-advocates-11657879200
Hannah Radant
8 months ago09/01/23 at 1:06 pm (UTC)
"Woman yelling at cat" is one of my favorite memes. This was a really interesting concept to think about in context of elearning. When I think about times Ive most likely seen memes in training, its been at the beginning as a sort of icebreaker/introduction to a topic. im not sure if over explaining the meme would really add to the excitement of beginning the content, but im not sure what could replace it either, especially since a screen reader cant have a "sarcastic tone".
Jonathan Hill
8 months ago09/01/23 at 2:00 pm (UTC)
Thanks Hannah. It's true that a joke stops being funny if you have to explain it. As such, are memes impossible to alt text without killing the joke? I had a similar debate over on LinkedIn. At a fundamental level, I think it's sad that visually impaired people may be excluded from enjoying memes. But as Jodi points out, they're often 'inside jokes' anyway, which exclude some people by design. You either get them, or you don't, often based on your familiarity with the pop culture they reference. But I do think it would be entirely possible for screen readers to pick up a '[sarc]' tag in the future, and adjust the tone of its delivery accordingly. Just as WellSaid offers narration, promo and conversational tones. So who knows? I hope memes can become more inclusive in future.
Yvonne Urra-Bazain
8 months ago08/30/23 at 1:18 pm (UTC)
Popping in with a quick draft this morning regarding Alt Text in a context I normally do not see covered: Alt Text (and caption pairings) for one image used in three different contexts. I'm evoking my journalism training from 20+ years ago for this one. If time allows, I'd love to provide some best practices and learnings about the other topics I listed, too. If not, I hope this suffices to help someone understand how Alt Text and captions can work together. Rise Demo: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/aec4a622-6b64-435c-88ec-b4881cb5d399/review
Thierry EMMANUEL
8 months ago08/31/23 at 1:10 pm (UTC)
OK. All our efforts to make our customers' projects more accessible, with alt text, are remarkable. But has anyone ever studied their own e-learning module with a screen reader (like NVDA) in front of a really and totally black screen? I've done it a few times, and I confess I was completely lost after 5 minutes each time. So I do my best (with alt text and focus order, or with adapting overly complex interactive screens), but I'm never sure of the result. I haven't had any complaints either, but... Screen readers are so complex to set up (plus, the settings are different for each user). A complete black screen is so disturbing for a sighted person, and I'm not used to listening/seeing. I never feel I've done my job to the end. How do you do it?
Jonathan Hill
8 months ago08/31/23 at 3:29 pm (UTC)
I've done this too, Thierry, and it's quite a sobering experience. I think the awful truth is that designing an accessible online learning experience, that meets everyone's needs 100% of the time is next to impossible. Screen readers feel clunky because we take visuals so much for granted. I'd like to design something completely non-visual from scratch - I'm sure the end product would be a totally different experience, both to build and to use, than what we regularly produce in corporate L&D.
Thierry EMMANUEL
8 months ago08/31/23 at 5:53 pm (UTC)
Yes Jonathan. My experience: I once participated in a debriefing on an e-learning module as an “expert capable of providing solutions” (Brrrrr!) for a module presenting problems created by another storyliner. The module had been controlled by a blind person and it was only 95% accessible, so we might as well say 0% according to him if it is not 100%. He was angry. I understand that he felt like he was wasting his time and that the people involved in the project hadn't tried hard enough. But his words were not kind.
Jodi M. Sansone
8 months ago08/31/23 at 3:44 pm (UTC)
I agree--I find using the screen reader disorienting. I sit in front of my computer with my eyes closed to see if I can follow what is happening. I have asked in the community for someone to share an example/file they feel is a good demonstration of what the experience should be, but no one has every taken up my request. I'd like to learn from a good example.
Thierry EMMANUEL
8 months ago08/31/23 at 5:54 pm (UTC)
Yes Jodi. This would be a great asset. As I said, I'm not at all sure I have such a file among my accessible projects. There are companies specializing in this field. I must admit that when accessibility requests seem to me to want to respect all the standards in force (while customers do not even know exactly what constraints this represents, including for themselves), I sneak elsewhere.
Ivonne Martin
2 months ago02/16/24 at 2:59 am (UTC)
Hello! I am a little late, but I'm ready to share my submission to this challenge. I shared a little bit about this challenge on my blog under the post titled, Using Alt Text in E-Learning #429: https://visionclearmija.com/using-alt-text-in-e-learning-429/ Here is a direct link to the mini course: https://whatisalttext.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/what-is-alt-text-raw-63NoJdhT/content/index.html#/ Looking forward to participating in more challenges. Cheers to all!
Sign In to Comment