Add alternative text to work images

Version: Kora Courses, April 14, 2023 or later
Permissions required: Student

• Alternative text (or alt text) is a method for describing an image when it cannot be processed visually. For instance, a blind or visually impaired user utilizing a screen reader with a speech synthesizer or braille display will be able to absorb all the content on your page.
• Using image Alt Text under module settings users can either mark an image as decorative or provide an alt text for the image. Images marked as decorative are ignored by screen readers.
• All existing images with no alt text are displayed as decorative.

• Select your image and click Settings (1) to open the image control panel on the right side of your screen.

• Scroll down to the Image Settings (2), and click the “EDIT” (3) option next to the Accessibility information.

• Click the tooltip icon (4) to learn what is an alt text, decorative image, and how to write an alt text.

• If the image is a decorative image, click <click here> (5) next to ‘If this is a decorative image’ so that it's not required to add alt text. Once clicked in the image settings area, it will show that 'This is a decorative image, and alt text is not needed' (6).

• If the image is not a decorative image, click <click here> (7) next to ​​”If this is not a decorative image” and enter your short description into the Image Alt text field (8).
  

• Ensure that image alt text does not exceed 125 characters (9).

• In the "Edit Accessibility Information" modal, choose how the accessibility information you add will be applied to the image file.

Customized for this use only (10): Selecting this option applies changes only to the specific instance of the file you are currently editing.

Switch to accessibility information used everywhere this file is used (11): Selecting this option applies changes universally to all instances of the file across Digication.

• The added image alt text will be displayed in the image settings area (12).
  

Tips for writing effective alt text

Make it meaningful
Your alt text is a replacement for your image, do your best to describe the picture and convey its meaning.

Keep it simple
Most alt text should be easily described in under a sentence.

Don't include "image of" or "picture of"
Since the purpose of alt text is to convey the content of the image, it should be easily discernible to most users that the text is a descriptor of an image.

Example
Not good: Hand
Good: Hand holding a pen
Better: Hand holding a pen writing in a notebook

To learn about accessibility (image alt text) options and what is an image alt text, please see “Accessibility (image alt text) options and interface” and “What is image alt text”.