Section 2.1: Defining Accessible Images, Part 1

What are accessible images?

Accessible images are those that are supported by text alternatives that convey information that is appropriate for the purpose of the image. The concept of creating accessible images on the Web is one of the most basic and talked about areas of accessibility.

What are Equivalent Text Alternatives?

At a very basic level, text alternatives provide meaningful and representative information that describes non-text content, such as images, so that users with disabilities may comprehend it.

Benefits of Text Alternatives

The use of text alternatives offers a number of benefits on the Web. Electronic text is highly flexible and adaptable. It can be rendered visually, aurally, or tactilely- even simultaneously. It can be enlarged, diminished, styled. In the future, text-to-Sign conversion will be as commonplace as text-to-speech conversion today.

Text alternatives help people who are blind, people who are hard of hearing, and sometimes people with cognitive limitations.