Review Images

Watch Decorative Images

Decorative Images Video Transcript

During our first web accessibility challenge, we are focusing on decorative images. According to WebAIM, decorative images “do not present important content, are used for layout or non-informative purposes, do not appear within a link” and are marked with an empty null alt attribute. (alt=””)

Monsido marks all images with an empty alt attribute with the review item “Should image be marked as decorative?” Reviewing your decorative images is a great way to perform a quality assurance review on your web content. As you review your decorative images, you have an opportunity to decide if they really are decorative or require an alternative text description, a caption, or need a revision. If they really are decorative, you can mark them as “approved” in Monsido.

Your challenge for this month is to review the decorative images on your site and either revise or approve them. Here’s how to get started

Step 1: Determine how many decorative images you have on your site

Access your Monsido account. Select Accessibility, Issues, then Should image be marked as decorative? Write down the total number of images currently flagged as decorative.

Step 2: Set your daily or weekly goal for the month

Based on how many decorative images you have in your Monsido issues list, determine how many images you need to review each day or week to resolve them all this month. If you have a large number of decorative images, you may need to dedicate more time each week than if you only have a handful.

Step 3: Block out time on your calendar

Determine when each day or week you can devote to reviewing images and block this time on your calendar. This can be as little as fifteen minutes once a day, or an hour once a week.

Step 4: Begin reviewing decorative images

As you review images, use the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative alt text decision tree to help determine if your decorative images, are in fact decorative images. If you find an image that should have an alternative text or caption description, login to your webpage and add the alternative text or appropriate caption.

If you find images that contain a lot of text, consider revising them to be more accessible. This may mean adding content directly to your webpage or replacing the image altogether. If an image is truly decorative, then tell Monsido that you approve the image for that page by selecting the decision option approve.

If you have any questions as you are reviewing images, please get in touch with the OIT Web Accessibility Team at OITAccessibility@boisestate.edu.

Watch Text in Image

Text in Image Video Transcript

Last month we discussed how to review and evaluate decorative images on your site. For this month’s challenge we are discussing text in images.

According to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, “Images of text display text that is intended to be read.” This means that the images are providing content to users to read, interpret, and possibly act upon. So why is this problematic for accessibility? Text provided as an image is less clear when resized and it can’t be modified to create better contrast for users the same way live text can.

Depending on the complexity of the image text, it may be difficult to accurately convey the meaning through alternative text descriptions alone. However, even if this is possible, providing alternative text is only helpful for users with screen readers and doesn’t take into account users with other disabilities, such as dyslexia or who English language learners who may need to translate text into a different font or language.

Every image on your site is flagged by Monsido with the review item, Is the image free of text? Similar to decorative images, you must review and approve these images to determine their accessibility. An accessible image has an appropriate alternative text description that is either null for decorative images or that conveys the content and function of the image. Your challenge for this month is to review and approve or revise the images on your site. Here’s how to get started…

Step 1 Determine how many images you have on your site

Access your Monsido account. Select Accessibility, Issues, then Is the image free of text? Write down the total number of images currently published on your site.

Step 2 Set your daily or weekly goal for the month

Based on how many images you have in your Monsido issues list, determine how many images you need to review each day or week to resolve them all this month. You may need to set aside more time for this challenge if you have a large number of images published on your site.

Step 3 Block out time on your calendar

Determine when each day or week you can devote to reviewing images and block this time on your calendar. This can be as little as fifteen minutes once a day, or an hour once a week.

Step 4 Begin reviewing your images

As you review images, use the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative alt text decision tree to help determine if your images have appropriate alternative text descriptions. The WebAIM article Alternative Text, also provides valuable information and tips for writing effective alternative descriptions.

If you find an image that contains text that is intended to be read, you may need to add the same text directly to the page and adjust the alternative text, remove the image from the site, or both. If an image doesn’t contain text intended to be read and it contains an appropriate alternative text description, then tell Monsido that you approve the image for that page by selecting the decision option approve.

If you have any questions as you are reviewing images, get in touch with the OIT Web Accessibility Team at OITAccessibility@boisestate.edu or visit us online at boisestate.edu/webguide.

Watch Maintaining Image Accessibility

Maintaining Image Accessibility Video Transcript

During our first two web accessibility challenges we focused on image accessibility. Your challenge for this month is to develop a plan to ensure all future images published on the site are also accessible. Here’s how to get started…

Step 1: Review Boise State’s Webguide for general image and media requirements

On Webguide you’ll find tips and suggestions for selecting and publishing images on your site including image specifications, links to the Boise State image repository, and tips for using Google Drive’s File Stream to upload content to WordPress.

Step 2: Determine your department requirements for images published on your site

Take a few minutes to document the characteristics you are looking for in images for your site. This may include audience characteristics, event requirements, or other important details to help you determine if an image fits with your department’s target audience needs and goals. This may also include things like image resolution and size requirements. Having a list that is specific to your department website will help you to quickly evaluate how well an image fits into the larger goals of your site and will also help guide how to make the image accessible once added to a page.

Step 3: Share your requirements with stakeholders

Now that you know what types of images you are looking for, share this information with key stakeholders. This may be students, faculty, or staff who provide content to be published on the page, or other web editors who are responsible for publishing content on the site. This way, everyone working on your department site, or wanting to publish content on the site, is on the same page for image requirements and accessibility standards. These requirements and standards can also be applied to other resources being created for the web like documents and media.

Step 4: Review and approve new images in Monsido

After you publish a new image on your site, it will be flagged by Monsido with one or both of the image review items. If the text is decorative, you will need to approve it twice. Once with the Should the image be marked as decorative review item and again with the Is image free of text review item. If you’ve ensured your image is appropriate and accessible before publishing it on the site, this step now becomes a formality. To mark your image as approved in Monsido, locate the image on the appropriate review item, then select the decision option approve.

If you have any questions as you are developing your plan, get in touch with the OIT Web Accessibility Team at OITAccessibility@boisestate.edu or visit us online at boisestate.edu/webguide.

Need some extra support for this challenge? We’re here to help!

Visit the Drop-In Lab

The WordPress and Web Accessibility Teams are available during the drop-in labs. You can stop by to ask questions or use this as dedicated time on your calendar to review images. View the Webguide Events Calendar for upcoming drop-in labs dates and times.

Review Image Requirements and Best Practices on Webguide

Webguide has several resources for you to review regarding Images and Media.

Web Content Accessibility Micro-Certification Course

Take your accessibility game to the next level with a Web Content Accessibility Micro-Certification Badge! You’ll learn more about web accessibility best practices and access resources available at Boise State to support an accessible web presence. Demonstrate your skills and earn one or more badges with this free professional development opportunity. As a bonus, the work you complete on this challenge will count as work towards the badges!

One-on-one consultation with OIT Web Accessibility Team

If you have specific questions about content on your site, you can schedule a one-on-one consultation with the OIT Web Accessibility Team. To set up a consultation, contact us at OITAccessibility@boisestate.edu.