Have you ever wondered how blind people use the internet?

It’s amazing. There is software out there which actually reads out loud to those who can’t see. It takes the text which the net is full of and turns it into spoken words. Wonderful!

But what if it’s not text but a photograph or a graphic image? It may be crucial to understanding the point of the post, yet lost to those who cannot see it.

This picture, just as an example.

OK, it’s a picture of Moy Moy.

Even a blind person probably has some idea of what she looks like because I have painted so many word pictures of her in so many different places.

But suppose it’s a new person, someone who doesn’t know Moy Moy or has never even heard of her.

And there I am – Ms Blogger – nattering on about this wonderful girl who is such an enormous part of my life and how beautiful she is, blah, blah, blah . . . and my blind reader is kind of missing out on the fact that there is this glorious photo of her and that it is called “Babushka.”

Why “Babushka”?

In the photo, Moy Moy is wearing a head scarf in the traditional Russian style known as “babushka.” Some of you know that because you can see the photo. Others know it because I have provided that information in the “alternate text.”

“Alternate Text” is what makes it possible for blind people to “see” a photograph in my blog post. Alternate Text has always been there. I just didn’t realize it had anything to do with inclusion and making the web accessible until our amazing website guru, Siddharth Sharma, told me.

You’ve got it too.

If you blog, check it out. Here’s what it looks like when I post my photo and I have to size it and place it (Right aligned? Left aligned? Centred?) AND, most important, alt text it.

See how it’s done? You describe the picture: “little girl in pink and white, bandana on head in Russian Babushka style, holding poinsettias”. That’s all. Just the facts, Ma’am.

This is what it looks like to the blind person’s software.

And then the playing field is level (or as level as possible). Blind people can add the information the photo contains to what they understand about the post in its entirety.

So don’t leave out the alternate text. If you blog, if you make websites, if you post anything anywhere – don’t forget the alt text. It’s important!