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Number of posts in this thread: 8 (In chronological order)

From: Teller, Carlos Z
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 7:18AM
Subject: Alt Text For Collages
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When adding alt text to images, what would be appropriate? I heard split things on this. Some say, you can say "Collage of…" and describe the collage. Others say that you need to add a description of every picture in the collage within the alt text.

Thank you.

Carlos Teller
Web Administrator, Technology Services
North East Independent School District
9803 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78217
Phone: (210) 356-8950, Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >

From: chagnon
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 8:43AM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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Our testers say to artifact all but one of the graphics in the collage. Write one alt-text that describes the collage.

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —
Latest blog-newsletter – Accessibility Tips at www.PubCom.com/blog

From: James Harrington
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 8:58AM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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The most important thing is to convey what the author had intended.

On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 8:18 AM, Teller, Carlos Z < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> When adding alt text to images, what would be appropriate? I heard split
> things on this. Some say, you can say "Collage of…" and describe the
> collage. Others say that you need to add a description of every picture in
> the collage within the alt text.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Carlos Teller
> Web Administrator, Technology Services
> North East Independent School District
> 9803 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78217
> Phone: (210) 356-8950, Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> > > > >



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From: Teller, Carlos Z
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 8:58AM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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Thank you for the reply. I just need some clarification on the first sentence, please. By "artifact all but one," what do you mean by that? Just a little confused. By the second sentence, it seems like just a description something like, "Collage of students and teachers at XYZ High School," for example, would be appropriate.

Thank you.

Carlos Teller
Web Administrator, Technology Services
North East Independent School District
9803 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78217
Phone: (210) 356-8950, Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >

On 8/13/18, 9:43 AM, "WebAIM-Forum on behalf of = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = " < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = on behalf of = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

Our testers say to artifact all but one of the graphics in the collage. Write one alt-text that describes the collage.

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —
Latest blog-newsletter – Accessibility Tips at www.PubCom.com/blog

From: chagnon
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 9:36AM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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Carlos wrote:
" By "artifact all but one," what do you mean by that? "

That refers to how the collage was created. There are 2 construction methods to create a collage and it depends upon which software the designer uses, which software gives them the tools they need to achieve the visual effect they want, and their level of skill.

Method 1. The designer uses a program like Adobe Photoshop (which is an image-editing program with many design tools for the visual effects used in collages) and brings all the individual photographic pieces into one Photoshop file. When done, one composite file is exported and brought into the authoring program (such as HTML, Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign).

The end result is one graphic file, so it can have only one Alt-text.

Method 2. The designer brings two or more graphics into their source program (such as Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign) and arranges the different pieces into a collage effect. The pieces are never combined together, even though they may visually overlap and merge together. The individual graphic pieces are still separate from each other. In this case, artifact all but one and write a single Alt-text for the group.

This method is frequently used by high-end designers who use Adobe InDesign, which has many design and effects tools for this type of graphic / collage.

It's also used in more simple documents like Word and PowerPoint where the designer wants a series of graphics as a decorative frieze or grouping on the page. An example: the cover of a Word report with 3 small photos along the top edge that show generic campus scenes. Artifact 2 of them and write a group Alt-text on one.

Note: Don't confuse a collage with an info-graphic. Although they can share a similar visual appearance, the intent and purpose is completely different.

In most info-graphics, each individual graphic piece carries its own unique visual information and sometimes, each piece (or many of them) needs Alt-text to fully convey its concept. A flow-chart is an example where you might take this tactic.

But other times an info-graphic can have one Alt-text for the entire group. An example is a graphic that shows the cycle of water in the environment: although there are separate graphic pieces in the graphic, a single group Alt-text might be "Info-graphic shows the cycle of water. Water evaporates from a lake, rises up to form clouds, which then produce rain. The rain drains into rivers that return the water to the lake."

The deciding factor for all of these collages, info-graphics, flow charts, etc. is how much detail should be conveyed to the user. Does the user need to know the detail of each individual piece? Or does the user only need a single Alt-text of the overall concept for the entire group?

Hope this helps.
—Bevi

— — —
Bevi Chagnon, founder/CEO | = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
— — —
PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
consulting ' training ' development ' design ' sec. 508 services
Upcoming classes at www.PubCom.com/classes
— — —
Latest blog-newsletter – Accessibility Tips at www.PubCom.com/blog

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Mon, Aug 13 2018 11:03PM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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My first question would be how is the collages being made? If it is
individual images being arranged a certain way using css or Javascript, I'd
recommend pulling them out and making a single image in photoshop or your
preferred tool.

After that I would just give it an alt like mentioned in the other replies.
You wouldn't need to set things as Artifacts, which is for PDFs.

Ryan E. Benson

On Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 09:18 Teller, Carlos Z < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> When adding alt text to images, what would be appropriate? I heard split
> things on this. Some say, you can say "Collage of…" and describe the
> collage. Others say that you need to add a description of every picture in
> the collage within the alt text.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Carlos Teller
> Web Administrator, Technology Services
> North East Independent School District
> 9803 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78217
> Phone: (210) 356-8950, Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> > > > >

From: Isabel Holdsworth
Date: Tue, Aug 28 2018 3:17AM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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If there's more than one image, I wouldn't label a single image as the
collage. If I, as a blind user, wanted to save a picture of the
collage, what I'd be saving if you did it this way would be just a
small part of the collage as a whole. If you're using lots of images,
I'd say label them separately. But it might be much better to combine
them into a single image as others have suggested.

On 14/08/2018, Ryan E. Benson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> My first question would be how is the collages being made? If it is
> individual images being arranged a certain way using css or Javascript, I'd
> recommend pulling them out and making a single image in photoshop or your
> preferred tool.
>
> After that I would just give it an alt like mentioned in the other replies.
> You wouldn't need to set things as Artifacts, which is for PDFs.
>
> Ryan E. Benson
>
> On Mon, Aug 13, 2018, 09:18 Teller, Carlos Z < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> When adding alt text to images, what would be appropriate? I heard split
>> things on this. Some say, you can say "Collage of…" and describe the
>> collage. Others say that you need to add a description of every picture in
>> the collage within the alt text.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Carlos Teller
>> Web Administrator, Technology Services
>> North East Independent School District
>> 9803 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78217
>> Phone: (210) 356-8950, Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>> >> >> >> >>
> > > > >

From: Guy Hickling
Date: Tue, Aug 28 2018 6:05PM
Subject: Re: Alt Text For Collages
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As with all images, the aim of the alt text(s) should be to convey the same
information or understanding to screen reader users that the image itself
conveys to sighted people. So we always have to ask that question.

Some collages seem to me to be purely decorative, conveying little or no
information, in which case they probably need just an empty alt text so
they are ignored. Others convey a general impression of something (e.g.
"students celebrating their exam results"), rather than intending that the
viewer should look at each image in detail. So if the alt text conveys that
same impression, that would meet the case I think. Others collages may show
some particular images standing out more than other parts of the collage,
so those images ought to be mentioned or described in more detail in the
alt text, so screen reader users get those important parts of the whole.

Regards,
Guy Hickling
Accessibility Consultant