Omni CMS & Alt Text
Learn how to add alt text to your images using different callout and content snippets in Omni CMS.
Writing effective alt text can seem difficult at first, but if you follow these steps to analyze your images and understand what they're communicating, it will become much easier.
Most of the time, you will need to write alt text for each and every image you publish online. It's important that your alt text is clear and descriptive to effectively communicate the visual information in the image.
Think about everything that's happening in the image. What visual information is it conveying? What information would you not have if you could not see this image?
Is the image implying a mood, feature, or activity not mentioned elsewhere on the screen where it will appear?
A screen reader will tell the person listening to your alt text that this is an image. However, do mention if your visual is a particular type of image like an illustration, headshot, infographic, collage, etc.
It's best to avoid using images with text embedded in them. However, if words are part of your visual, you must include all of them in your alt text. As you can probably imagine, the more words in your image, the longer your alt text will have to be.
For images like infographics, where the image's composition makes a difference in what's being communicated, you'll need to explain that layout and its meaning in your alt text.
Some royalty-free stock photo sites provide pre-written alt text. You will still need to check that the alt text is accurate and descriptive before using it.
Unsplash in particular does a good job providing ready-to-go alt text for images.
We used the steps on this page to write clear, descriptive alt text for a photo depicting one facet of student life at the University of South Carolina.
The way you'll add alt text to your images will depend on the tool or platform you're using to publish digital content.
Learn how to add alt text to your images using different callout and content snippets in Omni CMS.
If you're creating a PDF or exporting an existing document to PDF, you can follow these steps to check and add alt text for images.
It's often the best idea to handle alt text in the original document. Word provides help for adding alt text and marking images as decorative in all of their products.
Google offers easy steps for adding alt text to images within their apps.
Adobe offers a good guide to marking images as decorative (and adding alternativetext where necessary) in InDesign and their other products.
Alt text is important for social media images too! Each platform has its own directions for adding alt text to images.