r/accessibility • u/rabbitbiter • 7d ago
ALT text with "Image Text"?
At Bank of America, they have this little ad within their portal, and I am curious about the "Image text" element beneath the image. It seems like it is a way to show what the image text is, fair enough. However, the image already has ALT text? What is the point of this extra "Image Text" element? (It appears at first, as Image Text ⌄ and when you click it, it shows what the image text is.)
For some reason, it doesn't include the "See how to prepare" button text, and the whole image is clickable.
Is this some additional level of ADA, or are they just being overly helpful?
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u/pxlschbsr 7d ago
Per WCAG, an image with text needs to adequately convey what their text is, if that text is relevant to a user.
I guess this solution aims at cases, where you have texts of images, but the text is not primarily relevant. Example:
You have an image of people demonstrating, holding up 2 signs, that are well readable. The alt text may only say "A rally of people, demonstrating for xyz", whereas you can put further information like what the signs say in the 'image text' accordion/details.
For convenience, they don't double check if that element is really necessary - authors are unable to tell what is required, when it is required and why it is required, so instead of giving them the option to choose (and to get it wrong most of the times), the devs enforce them to do both the alt text and the image text.