Accessibility In Digital Media

A brief, descriptive, and accurate written description of an image to help a disabled social media user, specifically blind or visually impaired, understand and appreciate an image.

• Use only the essential information. Avoid starting with “Picture of…”
• Scenic descriptions
• Use people “IDs”: Describe the individuals within a group by using the most basic identifier such as age, ethnicity, hair length/color, simple overview of outfit.

A brief, descriptive, and accurate written description of a video:

• You can include these at the top of your captions using the same procedure as alt-text and image descriptions, as alt-text box is not an option for videos.
• This can be helpful if there are different voices in the video that you want to distinguish, or if the video is without sound or contains text.

Minimized Emoji Used:

• Use less emojis in your caption and alt-text!
• You can still use emojis, but avoid using long strings of emojis simply for comedy or aesthetic purposes.
• This is so a speech to text is not crowded with unnecessary information that could make the important text confusing or lost.
  • For example this text: 💝🥰🗣️ Join us for our GIM!🦄✨🪩🌈
  • Will be translated to this: “Heart with Ribbon, Smiling Face with Hearts, Speaking Silhouette Head, Join us for our “gim”!, Man in Business suit levitating, unicorn, sparkles, disco ball, rainbow”

Where/When to add a link:

• Add a link at the end of a post, so the URL is not read before anything else
• If possible ensure that link is in bio or even available to be sent through Direct Messages

Be-Enaged:

• Be-Engaged has sections to add Alt-Text to Flyers, do so using the same instructions for social media
• In many cases, you may have the original copy handy to copy and paste the text directly. This can be the best option to avoid retyping long blocks of text.

Adding Warnings:

• Content Warning about sensitive or triggering topics
• Flash Warning about videos with pulsating lights or graphics
• Loud Volume Warning about media with sounds louder than average

All images must include alternative text. In Gmail, once you have inserted an image, click the image and an “Edit alt text” option will appear under the image. B-Engaged also provides an “Image alt” box where you can enter alternative text.

• Images of flyers and other images of text must include alt text, as screen readers cannot read text within an image. Best practice is to write out text, as opposed to inserting an image with text in it.
• Screenshots must include alt text.
• Images in your signature must include alt text.
• Alternative Text: Tips and Best Practices
• Adding Alternative Text to B-Engaged Emails
• Adding Alternative Text to B-Engaged Newsletters 

All attachments must be accessible. This requires specific steps to be taken either in the original document, spreadsheet or design file and/or in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

• PDFs; Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs; Google Docs, Sheets and Slides; etc.
• Helpful Accessibility Tools and Resources 

Use descriptive subject lines.

Maintain sufficient color contrast. Text and background color combinations must have a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text).

• Use tools such as the WebAIM Contrast Checker to verify compliance.
• We strongly recommend black text with white background.

Use readable, accessible fonts. Use clean, simple fonts that are easy to read. Sans serif is best. Avoid script or decorative typefaces.

Don’t use excessive formatting. Screen readers do not communicate the use of bold, italics, etc. It can also be distracting visually if overused.

Avoid conveying meaning by color alone. Use labels, patterns or text in addition to color coding.

Use descriptive and informative link text. Avoid generic link phrases like “click here.” Instead, use link text that clearly indicates the link’s purpose or destination.

Avoid tables. Tables require specific steps to be taken to be accessible. Tables are for data, not design.

Use headers. Especially for longer emails, use appropriate header structure. I.e. start with header 1, then use header 2 and so on.

Check your email to see what a screen reader will say. Each operating system has a built-in screen reader. You can experience a screen reader by going to the accessibility settings on your device — Mac (VoiceOver) and Windows (Narrator).

What makes Alt-Text Accessible? To help a disabled social media user, specifically blind or visually impaired, understand and appreciate an image. In the case of fliers, to gain the imperative information provided through strictly visuals by providing this text to speech option.

Why can’t I see the option to see Alt-Text? This is why it is recommended that you add in the bio as well if possible. You will need to set up your phone to use “Voice-Over” or “Text to Speech” or a specific accessibility program/feature built in, or use another application to get this option to access the additional features on Instagram.

What is a screen reader? A screen reader is a device, app, or setting used to transform media into speech. This is mainly done through reading text, but can be done through reading images. Instagram’s and iPhones do not read images with their screen reader, and in many cases can block the contaminants of a post by reading the features of the app rather than the post itself if there is no alt-text.