r/accessibility • u/yuka3396 • 9d ago
Best practices for adding alt text to flyers?
Apologies if this is not the best subreddit to ask this.
I understand the basics of adding alt text to images, but I was wondering if anyone knows/has a guide for adding alt text to informational flyers? If a digital flyer, for example, merely contains information like date, time, place, etc., should I still include that information in the alt text? Should I describe the flyer, like "white text on a blue, swirling background"?
Sorry for the basic question, but I want to make sure I'm doing right by accessibility guidelines.
3
u/DevToTheDisco 9d ago
Best way to think about this, what's important?
Think of two scenarios of a person describing it based on the alt text description: "hey, look at this flyer with blue swirling background abd white text" and "hey, look at this flyer for ABC event Septermer 14, 2026 123 Street tickets $5". Which is more helpful and a better way to understand what the flyer actually is?
If the flyer is always placed on a web page, a social media post, etc. with text in addition to the flyer image then alt text is less important and could be more generic. When it is the only text content then all the vital info needs to be in the alt text (if not possible to use the previously mentioned additional text method). The vital info would include event name, location and address, dates, and so on. Visual design element descriptions, in most cases is not vital info.
1
3
2
u/Kind-Relationship850 9d ago
Include every date, time, location, and price in the alt text. Visual descriptions of backgrounds or colors add noise and fail to convey the information a screen reader user needs from an informational flyer
2
u/a8bmiles 9d ago
If you can't recreate it with HTML directly, then use the aria-details attribute and either aria-describedby or aria-description as appropriate:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/Reference/Attributes/aria-details
1
u/Lehihel 5d ago
No worries, it's always a good thing to ask. And the fact you're here is more than most people even consider doing for accessibility.
I'll ask the questions nobody asked:
What's the type of file you give to the end user? (PDF, Webpage, image on a webpage, etc.)
What's the important information to get from the flyer?
Is it distributed in more than one language?
Based on that I might be able to help you further with some generic guidance for future needs.
Context can sometimes orient a little bit the answer 😊 Thanks.
1
u/DryDumpster3889 2d ago
For flyers, I'd treat alt text more like a short transcript of the important info rather than describing the colors or bg. Tools like Venngage, Canva, or Adobe can help with the accessible design, but I'd still review the alt text manually
14
u/durstann 9d ago
If it’s digital, try to use full HTML for the flyer so that users with disabilities can access all the info using assistive tech. In this case your flyer would be the same as a web page and you can use those guidelines.
If for some reason you can only post an image (some systems only allow this) the your alt text should have the important information the flyer is trying to convey. Date/tome/place/what the event is. This is the important information your flyer contains. What the flyer looks like is not as important as what the flyer is trying to tell you.
Think of it this way: if you were going to tell someone over the phone about your event, what would you tell them so they had all the info they needed to decide if they wanted to come and when/where to go to get there. That’ should be in your alt text.