Forum Discussion
How do you determine the appropriate Alt text for page body text?
My current understanding is Alt text (for accessibility) for normal text boxes should not be a duplicate of the primary text in the text box. So, how do you decide what to put in Alt text?
Thanks in advance.
5 Replies
Hi Beth!
Alt text is for non-text content.
When the content is already text, screen readers and other assistive devices can read it directly.
Hi,
LeslieMcKerchie Thank you for this. I would appreciate confirmation that my below assumptions are correct:
- Text objects must have the "Object is visible to accessibility tools" enabled, otherwise screen readers will ignore them.
- Storyline insists that objects visible to accessibility tools must have Alt text (I cannot leave the Alt text field empty).
If the above is true, it means I must add ...something... to the Alt text for text boxes. So the question is, what do I put in there?
Great questions Beth. I'm happy to address your assumptions.
- You are correct. Any item that you want read by a screen reader must have "Object is visible to accessibility tools."
- The alt text field is not empty for text boxes, so you do not need to add custom alt text.
Right-click on your text boxes to see a similar view as pictured below:
If you're using the accessibility checker in Storyline, you'll notice that text boxes are not flagged.
LeslieMcKerchie Thank you I am getting closer to understanding but I have one more question; does this mean:
a) Alt text must be identical to the main text.
or...
b) Alt text can be ignored entirely for text boxes.
The reason I need to know this is that I have discovered there are situations when the Alt text is not an accurate reflection of the primary text. Specifically, if a heading and body text are combined in the same text box, the Alt text will merge the last word of the heading with the first word of the body text. For example:This is a heading
This is the body text.
Looks like this in the Alt text:
This is a headingThis is the body text.
So ultimately the question is: Can I completely ignore this error in the Alt text?
Hello Beth,
Thanks for your follow-up question, I’m happy to chime in!
As long as you’re using semantic formatting for the headings, which won’t be reflected in the alt text, the screen reader should read the content as expected. There should be no need to edit the alt text for text boxes.
Are you noticing any problems during your screen reader testing? If so, we’d be happy to take a closer look at your Storyline file and help troubleshoot further. You may share it here or privately by sending it along in a support case. We’ll delete it when we’re done testing.
