The Accessibility Minute
Short, weekly insights into building a more inclusive web.
Episode 2: A Picture is Worth Text
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Host: Welcome to The Accessibility Minute! I am your host Alx Sanchez, and today we are building better documents.
A picture is worth a thousand words—but only if everyone can actually perceive it! To support users relying on screen readers, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines require that all non-text content must have a text alternative that serves an equivalent purpose.
When you drop an image into a document or presentation, you must add 'alt text.' Keep it concise and describe the information it conveys. However, if your image is purely decorative or just for visual formatting, it should be implemented so that assistive technology can ignore it. Usually, you do this by applying a null (empty) alt attribute, denoted by a pair of empty quotes with no space or text inside!
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That is your Accessibility Minute! Remember, true inclusion starts with proper structure. See you next week!
Personalized Support & Office Hours
In addition to the resources below, we offer direct consultation to help you meet the 2026 compliance deadline. Please select the support channel that matches your role and project type.
Staff/Admin Consultations
The ITS T&D team provides peer assistance with digital document compliance for the following:
- Documents: PDFs, Word files, and PowerPoint presentations
- Multimedia: Pre-recorded videos and audio files
Please make an appointment using our Digital Accessibility Peer Consultation Calendar.