Adding ALT Text in Blogger

When inserting images into webpages, accessibility standards require the use of something called "ALT description." The ALT, as it is affectionately known, is code that a person using a screen reader hears which describes the image. Screen readers are "Assistive Technology" (AT) software applications used by people with blindness or low vision to "see" what's on a computer screen, to navigate around the screen and to interact with content. Everything on the screen is "read" to the user by way of text-to-speech software. When the screen reader device encounters an image it announces to the user, "image." But unless the web page owner/designer has added an ALT description to the image, that is all the screen reader will say. The blind user will not know anything about what image is or why it is on the page. So if you want everyone to enjoy your Blogger blog, use ALT descriptions on all your images!

Here is how you add ALT descriptions to images in Blogger.

1. Add the image the way you normally would by using the image icon on the menu bar.
2. Highlight the image by clicking on it.
3. In the pop-up menu that appears, choose "Properties"
4. In the new pop-up you will see a place to add a Title and ALT text. 

Note that this is actually an improvement in Blogger. In the old version you could not add ALT text without viewing the HTML and coding it in directly. For more tips and to learn more about accessibility, check out my website jebswebs.com.