Alt text

I have already covered this guideline (back at the end of December) but in the last few weeks, it has cropped up in some of my work. I have been really encouraged, over the last year, to see the commitment my main client has towards meeting WCAG in all their content. They have invested in training for their staff, to ensure that any new content is accessible. It has been fantastic to see the efforts that individuals are making too. Though, naturally, not everyone gets it right all the time (including me).

One of the common areas where I have seen mistakes recently, is in alt text. Some of the things I have seen are:

  • Missing alt text (though this is now rare)
  • Automatically generated alt text that is incorrect or inadequate
  • Images incorrectly marked as decorative
  • Images that are not inline with the text.

However, the one thing that I get asked most about, is what to write. People find it very difficult to write alt text that is descriptive enough and gets the intended information across. 

My professional development needs centre more around learning new skills with the software packages I use. One of these is Adobe Premiere Pro. I'm okay with the basics - putting videos together, cutting out and replacing bits, getting rid of ums and ahs and coughs... I can use the title and other text templates and edit them when needed and add in transitions and effects.

What I wanted to learn, is how to make my own title from scratch, with moving parts, jingle, etc. and how to combine video of a person with screencasts, so that they fit together nicely. You might have worked out where this is going. This week, I've had a rare opportunity to spend some of my work time on CPD activity. I made a title section for a new series on WCAG and then filmed and edited the first one... which focussed on alt text. 

So here is the result:


I am pretty happy with this as a first attempt at learning some new skills. What I want to do next, is find a way to get all my audio the same. I have to record in many different places and on different equipment. This makes it a bit messy with different qualities of audio and difference acoustics in each section. It's tricky working from home but I want to set up a recording area that will improve my audio. Any suggestions welcome.

And obviously... avoiding clothing continuity errors would also be good! 

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